Dusk
by correconlobos
Summary: Original characters, original clans, original setting. Tackling problems not presented in the main series to explore ideas. Watch Mudkit and Cherrykit become full fledged warriors while FernClan faces problems like they've never seen.
1. Prologue

**Allegiances:**

 **FernClan:**

Leader: Ravenstar- Young smoke tabby tom with amber eyes

Deputy:Blossomthroat- Black molly with a white locket marking and green eyes

Medicine Cat/Seer: Brightshade- White tom with orange tabby patches and hazel eyes

Warriors:

Snowwhisker- Solid white tom with pale blue eyes

Dappleface- Pretty brown molly with black and white patches and yellow eyes

Dusttail- Sleek, tall dilute cinnamon tom with amber eyes

Cloudsong- Fluffy white molly with blue eyes

Rosefoot- Cream molly with reddish socks and yellow eyes

Rabbitpelt- Black tom with white hind paws and amber eyes

Queens and Kits:

Adderfoot- Chocolate tabby molly with amber eyes

-Fawnkit: Cinnamon tabby molly  
-Thornkit: Brown ticked tabby tom  
-Mudkit: Dilute cinnamon tabby tom

Thrushleap- Tuxedo molly with amber eyes

-Bearkit: Black tom with amber eyes  
-Tigerkit: Black tom with a white belly and amber eyes  
-Nightkit: Tortoiseshell molly with green eyes  
-Cherrykit: Dark red molly with darker spots, long ears, and amber eyes

Elders:

Stormheart- Grey ticked tabby tom with green eyes, former leader, missing an ear

Ashcloud- Grey ticked tabby tom with hazel eyes, former medicine cat

Gingerstripe- Red tabby molly with lots of white and hazel eyes, scarred muzzle

 **MossClan:**

Leader: Moonstar- Silver molly with pale, clouded eyes.

Deputy: Cinderstep- Grey tabby tom with blue eyes

Medicine Cat/Seer: Mistcloud- Silver molly with amber eyes

 **Outsiders:**

Rogue leader: Redd- Massive dark ginger tom with a bobbed tail and gold eyes

Mojo- Tortoiseshell kittypet molly with amber eyes

 **Prologue**

Screeching echoed through the small clearing. Cats of all pelts were fighting over the limited territory after a massive forest fire, fur tufts and pools of blood littering the charred ground. A bulky, deep red tom tackled an equally muscled opponent who was cornering a tortoiseshell queen and her kits. They shouldn't have been part of this fight, but the attacking group had crept here before dawn to catch the group sheltering in the space off guard. A long throaty yowl signified a retreat.

"Are you okay Mojo?" the dark red tom meowed impassively.

"Yes, only a few scratches. I'm more worried about them, aren't you?!" the queen snapped, her gaze softening as she looked at the three small kits at her belly.

"They don't really concern me." he huffed.

"D-don't concern you?! They're yours!" the molly glared at him as he walked away.

The queen groomed her kits, trying to settle herself. She hadn't wanted to have them either, but she felt deeply bonded to them already. They were hers, she had to keep them safe. Redd wasn't much of a father. He wasn't much of a mate either. She wasn't sure why she was staying with his group of rogues anymore. She had come from a Twoleg house, when she had met him, he had seemed so much more caring. That was a long time ago, she had three little girls to take care of now. She couldn't just leave them now. The spotted red kit looked up at her blindly and she couldn't help but frown, reminded of Redd.

It had been a quarter moon since she had fled. The kits could walk now, their eyes fully open. They disguised their scents and left in the night. _'Rogues don't have guards posted at night, thankfully. My housefolk didn't like letting me out at night. Now I know what they were trying to protect me from...'_ she thought. Unfortunately, as she sniffed around, she was having trouble finding and catching prey in the burnt up forest undergrowth. _'House cats aren't meant to do this...'_ she fumed, noticing the thinning tortoiseshell fur of her two smaller kits. Cherry, the red kit, was busy stalking a butterfly, without a care in the world. Speckle and Spot watched on with low energy. Most other queens in her situation would take the stronger kit over the weaker ones, but something about Cherry just unnerved Mojo.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Mudkit woke earlier than his siblings. He slipped past them and his mother, Adderfoot's, tail to poke his head out of the nursery. From inside the thickly woven fern fronds, it was hard to tell that it was just another overcast morning. He looked across the ravine that made up his Clan's camp. He slowly drank in the scent of the cats he was growing to know. Ravenstar, the smoke tabby leader was in his den, sharing tongues with his sister Thrushleap. Blossomthroat, the black molly with the white throat and deputy of the Clan was organizing patrols of the territory.

Mudkit had been slowly gleaning this information over a few moons, since his ears and eyes had opened. It seemed like every member of the Clan had something to teach him. His mother, the elders, passing warriors, even his busy father had time to explain small things to him. He knew that the white and orange tom stretching languidly in front of his special den was the medicine cat, Brightshade. He talked with the Clan's ancestors in StarClan. He knew StarClan was where all cats go when they died. Much of the Clan was still grieving over the substantial loss of lives from the fire that raged through their territory before he was born. The two grey toms stretching in the elders den were the previous leader and medicine cat. They were getting old, but the last straw was the injuries they suffered while saving their clan from the fire. The previous deputy died, and Ravenwing, now Ravenstar, was appointed. Older warriors begrudged that choice, Ravenstar was inexperienced, but Stormheart chose him for his sense of justice and level headed nature. Or so he had been told, by Stormheart himself. Mudkit's ears twitched, the dawn patrol was coming back. His father spotted him and padded over.

"Hey Mudkit, what are you doing up so early? Not trying to sneak out, right?" the cinnamon tabby chuckled and cuffed his son's ear.

"Of course not Dusttail! Just needed to breathe." Mudkit replied, pulling himself out of the entrance of the nursery.

"Probably for the best, it's dangerous out there! Our patrol scented some rogues! They were heading south towards MossClan's territory, but we lost the scent on a stream." Dusttail mused, then added "Better wake up your siblings and mother, Ravenstar's about to call a meeting about it."

Mudkit watched him go into the nursery, then his attention shifted to Ravenstar, who yowled from the center of the camp. Cats began to gather around him, but at a respectable distance so as not to smother him. Groggy cats rose from their dens, softly complaining, but ready to listen. Ravenstar cleared his throat.

"FernClan, I apologize for the early awakening, but the dawn patrol has just informed me that some rogues were scented on our territory, not far from here. We've sent out a secondary patrol to search our borders for the intruders, but nothing has come to light yet."

"So, what are we supposed to do with this?" the soft spoken molly, Gingerstripe asked.

"Well, I'm thinking no hunting or leaving camp otherwise alone until we find the rogues. That makes sense right?" Ravenstar's gaze sweeping the clearing with uncertainty. "Any other suggestions?"

Brightshade sat up to speak, "I think that's a good plan. Considering we don't have any apprentices anymore, StarClan rest their souls, there hopefully won't be any cats for the rogues to snatch up."

"That's settled then. You can go back to your duties now. Thank you for listening!" Ravenstar waved his tail dismissively and the group broke apart slowly as cats went to share tongues, eat, or patrol.

"What have you been up to, huh?" Adderfoot approached him and licked his ear.

"I just wanted to stretch my legs. Can I go visit the elders?" Mudkit looked up, seeking her approval.

"Of course Mudkit. You should take them some prey, alright? Since there's no apprentices we're sort of strapped for cats."

"Will do! Thank you mother!" Mudkit chirped, heading over to the fresh kill pile and selecting a rabbit a little bigger than him and dragging it to the elders' den.

Mudkit liked hanging out with the elders. They had lived so many more moons than him, sometimes he tried to imagine what he would look like when he got to be their age. Would he have lost an ear like Stormheart? Would he have stiff joints like Ashcloud? Would he be riddled with scars like Gingerstripe? He had heard from her that she had been a fierce fighter, that was how she got her scarred muzzle and spine. Her mate, Brackenface had perished in the forest fire. She was still bitter with mourning. He watched her struggle to groom her back, having gained weight since she became an elder. He finally fully entered the den, presenting the fat rabbit.

"Wow that looks great, did you catch that yourself Mudkit?" Ashcloud grinned.

"Of course not you feather-brain!" Gingerstripe grumbled, her expression softening when her gaze turned on Mudkit. "I'm sure you'll be a great hunter soon enough. Two more moons right?"

"Yes ma'am. I'm starting to get a little nervous. I wonder who my mentor is going to be!" Mudkit wiggled on his paws.

Stormheart spoke through a mouthful of rabbit, "Maybe you could coax some ideas out of your parents? I'm sure whoever will be mentoring you and your siblings will do great. I expect great things from our future apprentices."

As Stormheart mentioned that, they all noticed his siblings, Fawnkit and Thornkit, playing noisily outside the elders' den. They were pouncing on leaves and wrestling. Mudkit liked to think of himself as more responsible than his brother and sister. He couldn't blame them for playing, but they just didn't seem nearly as interested in learning everything there was to know about the Clan they were living in. Maybe Mudkit was the foolish one, in not taking advantage of the duty-less kithood. It just seemed like his Clanmates were stressed and grieving, he should do everything he could to help his Clan.

"Do any of you have ticks or fleas today?" Mudkit asked the elders.

Stormheart and Ashcloud shook their grizzled heads, but Gingerstripe meowed softly. "Yes Mudkit, I have a flea somewhere on my back, I can't quite reach it. It would be really nice of you to get it for me."

"I'll find it for sure Gingerstripe!" Mudkit purred happy to help her, moving over to her and pawing through her orange tabby fur.

He found this kind of thing to be a little dull, but he liked to help. It was an apprentice duty, to feed and groom the elders. If he was going to be an apprentice soon, then he might as well get used to, and maybe even good at his duties. He was putting in work to get an edge in on his training. He wanted to be the best warrior his Clan could ask for.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The ravine filled with the sound of paws pounding the earth and yowls to Ravenstar and Brightshade. Mudkit and the elders rose to their feet slowly, exiting the den to see the ruckus.

"Rosefoot, Rabbitpelt, what did you find?" Ravenstar grumbled, looking like he had just woken up.

"We were following a possible rogue trail and we found this strange abandoned kit!" Rosefoot reported, nudging the burgundy kitten forward.

"I have a name you know." the kit frowned.

"Don't talk out of turn, rogue." hissed Rabbitpelt.

"She's only a kit Rabbitpelt, have some patience." Ravenstar glared at the hot tempered warrior, then shifted his gaze to the spotted kitten. "Who are you? Where are your parents? Are they rogues? Cats without Twolegs?"

"Mom named me Cherry, like the fruits on trees? She left our group and told me to stay right there, she said she'd come back… It's been three sun highs since then…" Cherry crumpled into a bundle of fur on the ground. Though her mid length fur added to her bulk, you could still see her ribs underneath.

"Oh my stars, you poor thing. Ravenstar she needs something to eat very soon. We can't just leave her alone. I'll take her in! She looks almost the same age as my kits. Please?" Thrushleap stepped forward, her tail sweeping around her until it could touch the kit.

"Cherry do you remember where your mother was headed? Or the group?" Ravenstar stooped so he could be eye level with her.

"Uhh.. Mom was going towards the river I think?" Cherry's tail flicked to the south weakly.

"Thanks." Ravenstar stood back up and nodded to Thrushleap. "You may take her in now. She will train as an apprentice. We need more anyway." He jumped up onto a stump at the edge of camp and projected his meow, his tone sounding a little rushed. "As you all know, FernClan needs apprentices. We will take this abandoned rogue kit." A couple cats in the clan grumbled but no one spoke against their leader. "From now on this rogue will be part of FernClan, she will be known as Cherrykit. May StarClan light her path."

"Whoa, does that mean I'm part of this group now?" Cherrykit sat up, snapping of her starved daze.

"Yes, you'll be training with my kits to become warriors any day now, isn't that exciting?" Thrushleap stepped forward and nosed the top of Cherrykit's head affectionately. "I'm sure you'll fit in just fine." As she said that the rest of her kits circled Cherrykit, "Can we show her around Mom?" Thrushleap laughed at her children's enthusiasm, "Yes of course, go ahead."

The Clan meeting slowly broke up, going back to patrols and such, Thrushleap's kits were already showing Cherrykit around camp with their mother's permission, explaining clan life to their new member. Adderfoot noticed Mudkit watching them and purred "Take her some fresh kill? She hasn't eaten yet, she must be starving." He nodded and went to the fresh kill pile, selecting a fuzzy mouse and bringing it to the group of kits, who were currently engaged with the medicine cat.

"That's all well and good Bearkit, but have you considered that Cherrykit hasn't eaten anything in three or more days? You should be more considerate." Brightshade meowed, cuffing the dark colored tabby's ear. "See Mudkit has the right idea."

Mudkit gently dropped the mouse at Cherrykit's feet, when he lifted his head back up he found himself nose to nose with her. "Nice to meet you!" she chirped and started eating the mouse. Through mouthfuls of mouse she mumbled "Thank you so much you guys! This is so much better than the other group already."

"Isn't it about time you rascals headed back to the nursery?" Brightshade smiled, then turned to Mudkit. "Would you bring this thyme to Gingerstripe for me? You can take Cherrykit to meet the elders."

"Whaaaat? No fair! Thrushleap said we could show her around!" Tigerkit whined.

Brightshade said nothing, but his tail began to twitch, which was enough to send the kits running from his den. Mudkit picked the herb bundle up in his mouth, and motioned with his tail for Cherrykit to follow. Cherrykit seemed to bounce on her paws now that she had eaten, as they entered the elders den, the two grey males smiled fondly.

"Nice to meet you Cherrykit. I am Stormheart, and this is my brother Ashcloud. We used to be the leader and medicine cat of this Clan, respectively." the one eared cat rose to his feet to greet her, his brother following suit.

"What happened to your ear?" Cherrykit blurted, somewhat in awe of how torn up the toms looked.

"Cherrykit!" Mudkit gasped, dropping his thyme by Gingerstripe, who groggily licked up the woody stems without much thought, then went back to sleep.

"It's okay Mudkit, she doesn't know. I'll tell you the story, okay?"

Cherrykit nodded and laid down with her paws tucked under herself, Mudkit respectfully settled down too, though he had heard the story before.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"It started on a bright sunny day in newleaf," Ashcloud started. "It had been raining off and on for the past quarter moon, not a single cat had suspected what would happen that day. At around sunhigh, it started hailing, but there were no clouds over the sun. The clan cats shrugged, sometimes the weather in the valley was strange, it didn't mean anything would happen. I watched the skies for a sign despite my clanmates' relaxed nature."

"It just feels odd doesn't it? Don't these showers usually come a moon later than this, at least?" Ashcloud sighed with his eyes turned to the sky.

Brightpaw, who was sorting herbs farther in the den chirped back to his mentor, "What do you think it means then Ashcloud? Has StarClan given you a sign?"

Ashcloud shook his head and kept his gaze trained on the far horizon, "Not yet Brightpaw, but I can feel it."

"Not long after did I doze off, despite my best intentions, my age got the better of me. I was awoken by the thunder, my sleep bleary eyes opening just in time to see the lightning crash down right outside of camp. Several cats in camp screeched, all of their pelts fluffed defensively. As the noise and shock wore down, an apprentice yowled:

"I smell smoke!"

The camp uproared in panic. Stormstar began instructing his clan as calmly as he could.

"Head for the river! Get at least to the bank! Someone find the patrols that are out! Warriors carry the kits! Someone help Ashcloud and Brightpaw see if we can carry out some supplies to help with burns before we all get smoked out of here!"

Even with the best of luck, the clan lost all of its apprentices and several senior warriors. The deputy had died saving the two queens in the nursery. My brother and I both had serious burns, I lost and ear and he lost sight in one eye. The ones left alive felt guilt. Parents who couldn't save kits, kits who couldn't save their mothers and fathers. Under all of the grief, the clan was reborn into what it is now. The forest is still recovering, and so is FernClan." Ashcloud finished with a grave tone.

Mudkit looked over to Cherrykit, her eyes wide as the moon. "Wow that's really awful Ashcloud. I'm sorry that happened to you." she said, not entirely understanding the gravity of what the story meant to the clan.

Gingerstripe had woken up and pulled herself into a sitting position to face the kits and rumbled, "It still feels like it was yesterday for me. I lost Brackenface, and I lost a piece of my soul I think."

Mudkit could tell that the relaxing and mood boosting effects of the thyme were helping Gingerstripe as she started into her traumatic story. He was going to get up, but since she was going to tell a story he hadn't heard before, he figured he better stay put.

"I hardly remember how and when the fire started," Gingerstripe began. "I was helping carry out a young warrior who had recently sprained his paw while showing his brand new apprentice battle moves. That was Rabbitpelt. He'd never had a sprained paw before and had been resting in his nest and when Stormstar had ordered everyone to evacuate, I picked him. I almost wish I hadn't. The clan was bolting through the hot crackling undergrowth. We reached the river to the south and I set the heavy muscled warrior down. He kept muttering apologies to me the best that he could. That he should have been the one carrying me." Gingerstripe paused and sighed, her voice beginning to waver, "It doesn't matter. There couldn't have been a happy outcome. When I reached the bank I realized that my mate, Brackenface, had taken a hunting patrol with nearly every apprentice we had. I wailed and wailed. I tried to go back into the burning forest, but my clanmates held me back. They tried to reassure me, that the hunting patrol had probably found the river in time. I didn't need to worry. I don't remember how long we waited for the rain to put the fires out. It felt like a lifetime of stressing. As the flames died down, we could see what remained of the forest, which was very little. Some huge charred trees, and the rocks, and the blackberry brambles. The ground was hardly cool enough to walk on, the warm ashy mud was just about all that was left. A patrol I begged to be a part of went to survey the territory and see if it was safe to go back to camp. It was easy to check because there was almost nothing left. That was when we found them. I don't think I'll ever forget how I felt when I clambered over the tree that had fallen from the fire against a steep rock face. They must have been trapped. Furless, charred, melted bodies. Four small ones, later we would learn their parents had died in the camp, and my mate. Thrushleap was with me on the patrol, the apprentices who died were her brothers and sisters. Her parents had another litter, but she never got to see them become warriors and grow up. I'll never forget my mate's sunken empty eye sockets and his mouth trapped in a permanent scream. It was hard to bury them. Their bodies kept falling apart. We did our best and returned to the clan with the news. After the clan was slowly rebuilt with mostly brambles for walls, I retired. So did Ashcloud and Stormheart." Gingerstripe looked to the other elders sighed again tiredly.

"Thank you for your story Gingerstripe. I really appreciate it. I hope that we as a clan keep recovering, and then someday you can find true happiness before having to give in to StarClan." Mudkit stood and bowed solemnly.

Gingerstripe stood as well and nosed the top of his head, "You're a sweet boy, you know that? The way you're growing into such a responsible young cat does my heart good. Now run along, I'm sure Cherrykit still needs a tour, it is definitely more fun than listening to elders' stories."

At the mention of her name, Cherrykit stood, her wobbly asleep legs tottering for a moment before she followed Mudkit out of the nursery.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Both kits left the elders swamped in their memories, to a more cheerful setting of their peers and siblings.

Bearkit seemed to be yowling at the top of his lungs, "Yessss did you hear? We're being made apprentices later today!" He caught Cherrykit's eye, "Even you! Isn't that cool?"

Cherrykit's eyes widened, "Apprentices? Awesome! We're gonna learn to hunt and everything?"

Tigerkit scrambled beside his brother and puffed out his chest, nodding excitedly. "Isn't that the coolest Cherrykit? You're gonna be an apprentice with us, we'll get to learn all the toughest FernClan battle moves! We're gonna be the strongest warriors in the valley right?!"

Cherrykit's head was reeling with the images of what becoming an apprentice would mean, "Yeah Tigerkit I am looking forward to it!" She didn't know what exactly was in store, but she was getting an idea of what it meant to be part of FernClan.

Nightkit, the molly of the trio, looked decidedly less excited, sitting in her mother's nest.

"You're going to be great Nightkit. I'm sure you can do this. It might even be fun." Thrushpelt insisted.

Nightkit didn't respond, but Mudkit leaned over to explain to Cherrykit, "She's going to be Brightshade's apprentice. A new medicine cat. She's more excited about it than she looks, I swear." Mudkit added with a laugh.

"May every cat who can, please come to the center of camp…-"

"Oh my stars it's starting!" mewed Thrushpelt, motioning for all the cats in the nursery to follow her.

Ravenstar positioned himself on the stump, and made enough room for the soon to be apprentices to be next to him. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey, we have gathered here today to make new apprentices of these kits. They will learn to hunt and fight for their clan, and even heal their clanmates. With StarClan as my witness, I name each of these cats so that they may begin their new lives." Bearkit stepped forward a bit, almost tripping over his paws in excitement. "This cat will be known from now until their warrior ceremony as Bearpaw."

The clan chorused "Bearpaw! Bearpaw!" as a way of welcoming him in. He smiled brightly.

"I am assigning Dusttail as his mentor, and hope he will do well to pass on his skills as a warrior to you." Ravenstar let Bearpaw off the stump to touch noses with his mentor. Mudkit watched the young black tom touch noses with his father. He was glad that his dad had gotten an apprentice, but a little jealous that he would be even more busy and see Mudkit less.

"Next, this cat will be known as Tigerpaw. His mentor will be Dappleface. I trust that you will do well in turning this rascal into a well mannered warrior." Ravenstar chuckled a little as Tigerpaw puffed out his fur to try and make himself as big as his mentor while they touched noses. "Tigerpaw! Tigerpaw!"

"I don't know what this newcomer will become, but I expect great things. I know that you will make a great mentor for her. Cherrypaw, your mentor is Cloudsong!" Ravenstar let the longhaired kitten meet her mentor, they seemed equally excited and enthusiastic. Mudkit took this as a good sign, ' _At least someone can match her energy.'_ he thought with a smile. He noticed as the clan cheered her new name, it seemed quieter than the last two apprentices.

"And finally, Nightkit, you have expressed interest in becoming a medicine cat apprentice, is that still the case?" Ravenstar looked down at the tortoiseshell molly. She nodded a bit nervously, but raised her tail in an attempt at a more enthusiastic answer, "Yes Ravenstar!" Ravenstar looked back up across the crowd, "Alright then, you shall be known as Nightpaw, and will train under Brightshade." Nightpaw left the stump to join the medicine cat. Mudkit noticed when they touched noses that they had almost the same color eyes, ' _Neat!'_. "Alright, thank you everyone for your patience, this concludes the naming ceremony." "Nightpaw! Bearpaw! Tigerpaw! Cherrypaw!" the clan chorused one more time before scattering back to their duties.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

About a quarter moon had passed since Cherrypaw had become a FernClan apprentice. She had gotten a tour of the valley territory and had started learning hunting techniques. ' _Rabbits will hear you before they see you, mice will feel your pawsteps…'_ she recited to herself while she patrolled the river to the south of camp with her mentor. Cloudsong was marking borders and Dappleface was teaching Bearpaw how to scout ahead effectively. Tigerpaw was grounded to camp for sneaking out at night and trying to hunt, he had fallen into a hole and started yowling so loud the clan thought he would wake everything in the forest. Rabbitpelt had been keeping watch that night, Cherrypaw thought that he would claw Tigerpaw's ears off he was so grumpy. Cherrypaw had lagged behind a bit while focusing on her own thoughts. She could hear her clanmates a few fox-lengths away, and she looked up across the river. She felt her heart well up with emotion and blood when she saw her. Cherrypaw could see Mojo's tortoiseshell form kneeling at the riverbank for a drink. She almost screamed out to her, but then felt that her mother didn't actually care about what had happened to her. Cherrypaw's pelt prickled with bitterness until she realized that Speckle and Spot were nowhere to be found. Her heart sank and felt cold and empty with grief suddenly. It was hard to move from where she was, her emotions churning rapidly between sadness and bitterness.

"Cherrypaw! Come on!" Cloudsong called to her, breaking her out of her thoughts. Cherrypaw skipped to her mentor's heels. "Did you find something?" Cloudsong looked concerned. Cherrypaw struggled to find what to say, "Umm.. I saw.. My mom. Across the river, over there." Cloudsong's deep blue eyes seemed to darken with emotion, "Oh I'm sorry. We should probably report that to Ravenstar as soon as possible. Dappleface!"

Dappleface came running with Bearpaw, "What happened?"

"Nothing so far, but Cherrypaw saw her mother, the rogue, somebody needs to report to him immediately." Cherrypaw frowned a little at the term rogue.

Dappleface looked around their small party, "I suppose you and Cherrypaw can go back to camp, I think Bearpaw and I can handle a single molly." Bearpaw fluffed up his black fur to look bigger and Dappleface laughed, "Yeah go ahead."

Cloudsong and Cherrypaw made it to camp after a brisk run, and headed to Ravenstar's den. Cherrypaw looked around the hollowed out tree, a bit impressed, 'I bet he doesn't get any rain at all, that must be nice.' Ravenstar sat up in his nest.

Cloudsong bowed her head a little as a respectful gesture and Cherrypaw mimicked her and Cloudsong started, "Ravenstar, sorry to intrude, but on our patrol we spotted a rogue across the south river."

"Oh well-" Ravenstar stopped as Cherrypaw straightened up, "She's not just a rogue she's my mom! She isn't with the rogues anymore she's all alone."

Ravenstar's amber eyes widened with intrigue, Cloudsong's mouth was open with shock. Ravenstar gathered his composure, "How do we know that she is alone? Can we trust your word Cherrypaw?"

Cherrypaw realized she had been a bit bold, "I saw her drinking water across the river. My sisters weren't even with her anymore. The last time I saw them we were all starving because Mom was having a hard time catching prey. When we were with the rogues, Dad kept us fed."

Ravenstar mulled over the apprentice's words for a moment, "Your dad is a rogue then?"

Cherrypaw sighed a little, "Yeah, his name is Redd. I've never even talked to him though. He wasn't very nice to mom. That's why she left."

Ravenstar frowned, "Fox-dung, I was hoping to gather insight on the plans of the rogues lurking around our territory. I guess your mom doesn't sound dangerous or affiliated with the rogues, so we can leave her be. She isn't on our territory so there is no issue." Cloudsong and Cherrypaw nodded respectfully. "Thank you for reporting to me, you may both relax for the rest of the day if you like." Ravenstar waved his tail to dismiss them and they both left his den.

Cloudsong went to the fresh kill pile and Cherrypaw followed, they each selected a mouse. Cloudsong went to the warriors' den to eat, leaving Cherrypaw to her own devices. She decided she would visit the elders, but she was more interested in seeing Mudkit. He was quiet and friendly, the most friendly cat in the clan aside from her mentor. She traded her mouse for two fat voles and headed to the bramble bush that housed the elders. Sure enough, Mudkit was there, napping next to Brightshade. When she entered he looked up and silently rose to greet her. She set down the voles and Stormheart and Ashcloud started sharing one. Stormheart's green eyes sparked with amusement at the younger cats' silence, "You go on and go find a nice sunspot, she'll eat when she wakes up."

Cherrypaw and Mudkit left the elders' den and went back to the fresh kill pile. Cherrypaw picked her mouse she previously picked up and Mudkit picked up a scrawny rabbit. They settled on a sunny patch of moss in the clearing to eat.

"How is being an apprentice? I'm really excited to start training." Mudkit smiled up at her.

"It is pretty fun, probably way more fun than sitting in camp all day!" Cherrypaw swallowed the rest of her mouse.

"I don't mind hanging out in camp that much, helping the elders is nice." Mudkit stared thoughtfully at the elders' den. "I want to help my clan as much as I can, but I want to do it as a service to my clanmates. My brother Thornkit has adopted this idea that the strongest fighter is the best warrior there is. I don't agree. He's been parading around with his tail up like he's already clan leader, it's driving me nuts."

Cherrypaw laughed a little as she noticed the brown tom they were talking about climbing onto the meeting stump Ravenstar usually sat on with his tail puffed out. She laughed even harder as his mother Adderfoot came and bowled him off the stump with a swift paw and some pointed words.

"Fawnkit seems to be almost the exact opposite. She sees Thornkit and now she's convinced that she's going to be the worst warrior because she doesn't like fighting very much. I've tried to make a good example like the elders told me to, but I don't think it has her convinced." Mudkit sighed a little and finished his rabbit.

Cherrypaw was impressed, as usual, with the maturity in Mudkit's voice. His siblings seemed way more like kits, and even her fellow apprentices didn't seem as composed as he was. She guessed it was from hanging out with the elders all the time that had made Mudkit wise beyond his moons. He had his own problems and was actually trying to solve them. Since she didn't have anywhere else to be until sundown, they sat together talking about FernClan for a while.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The excitement was palpable on the early evening mist. The full moon was climbing in the darkening sky, it was finally time for the new apprentices to go to their first Gathering. Cherrypaw and her peers had been apprenticed a few days after a Gathering, they were all bouncing on their paws and raring to go. Gatherings were meetings on full moon nights between the two Clans in the valley, FernClan and MossClan. It seemed like Ravenstar couldn't gather the clan to go fast enough. Cherrypaw felt bad for Mudkit because kits couldn't go to Gatherings, but he would probably get to be an apprentice for the next one. He had said bye to her and the elders, wishing them a safe journey. She didn't think that Fang Cliff was that far away, but guessed that he wouldn't know that since he had never been outside of the camp. Almost all of FernClan trekked southwards, leaving Adderfoot, Dusttail, and their kits in camp, as well as Snowwhisker and Dappleface. The clan crossed the initial large gravel path with ease. Cherrypaw scrunched her face at the scent of Twolegs, but was grateful that it wasn't fresh. A thinner path snaked around the base of the mountain that was topped with Fang Cliff. Cherrypaw had never seen Fang Cliff from the southern side, and was pleased to see what looked like carved stone steps all the way up the side of the mountain. She was less pleased as she started climbing the steps, and found them to be a lot steeper than they looked, she hung back with the elders who shared her complaints. Eventually, FernClan reached a large flat basin and most of the cats hunkered down to wait for MossClan. Cherrypaw watched in awe as Ravenstar kept climbing, reaching one of the two steep peaks.

Tigerpaw shouted with excitement from the other edge of the basin, looking over the edge, "Whoa there's MossClan!"

The other apprentices ran over, commenting quietly as they watched silver and grey cats of many shades emerge from the river and climb the bank. The slick shiny coats made their way up the steps with vigor as they realized that FernClan was already at the top. Cherrypaw got off the ledge to watch MossClan as they entered the basin, soft energetic voices bounced off the stone walls. As the cats got settled in, Cherrypaw laughed a little, realizing that many of the MossClan cats blended in with the stone, looking like rocks. Their drying fur helped distinguish them, but she guessed if it had been any darker than a full moon it would be hard to see them. She looked up and noticed a grey tabby tom helping a bright silver molly up the other peak.

Cloudsong nudged her apprentice, "The tom is their deputy, his name is Cinderstep. Their leader is named Moonstar."

Cherrypaw nodded and looked back up, watching Moonstar groom the water out of her fur for a moment. Her pelt was catching the moonlight more than anyone else's and it seemed to make her glow like the moon. ' _Guess that's why she's named that_.' Cherrypaw thought. Moonstar looked across the crowd and locked eyes with Cherrypaw, her clouded milky eyes spooked Cherrypaw, but Moonstar seemed equally unnerved.

She looked away back to Cloudsong, "Is Moonstar blind?"

"I think so. She seems to get around okay though, I don't know how she became leader. That's MossClan's business." Cloudsong shrugged.

"Welcome cats of the clans of the valley, I think we are ready to start this Gathering." Moonstar straightened up a bit as she started. "Prey is running well, but our medicine cat Stoneleap has sadly passed away. She lived a long life serving her clan and she died peacefully in her sleep. Her apprentice has visited the Star Tree and has been given her full name. She is now known as Mistcloud."

Both clans chorused in approval "Mistcloud! Mistcloud!"

Ravenstar waved his tail to show he was going to speak, "I am sorry for your loss, but at least you can rest easy knowing that Stoneleap now hunts with StarClan. I also wish Mistcloud luck in her service, I am sure she will serve her clan admirably. As for FernClan, we have four new apprentices." Each of the apprentices straightened up a little. "Bearpaw, Tigerpaw, and Cherrypaw are all warrior apprentices, and Nightpaw is Brightshade's medicine cat apprentice."

As the clans chorused names again, Cherrypaw noticed the strange look from Moonstar again. She felt like she had ants in her fur. ' _Maybe Moonstar wasn't blind like Cloudsong said.'_

"In other news, we scented a large group of rogues on our territory a few days after the last gathering, but nothing since then. I would keep an eye out for any suspicious cats." Ravenstar lowered his tail.

"We have also scented rogues, as well as finding clumps of fur at the border. It was dark red, I'd never seen anything like it when the patrol brought it to me." Moonstar's voice had a bit of growl to it. "Until tonight actually, just where did this 'Cherrypaw' come from?" her tail lashed impatiently.

"We found a starving kit in the woods, abandoned by her mother, do you really expect us to turn away a kit?" Ravenstar turned to look at Moonstar directly instead of down towards the clans.

Cherrypaw grew nervous as she felt dozens of eyes on her, her stomach turned like she had eaten crow-food. Whispers flew around the stone basin all around her. Cloudsong stood and pressed against her reassuringly.

"Cherrypaw had rogue parents, but they threw her away. We found her, and accepted her into our clan, she is my apprentice. I've seen nothing but good things from her. She has been doing great in her training and I know she wouldn't break the rules the clans have set." Cloudsong stood her ground firmly and yowled up at the leaders.

Moonstar stopped glaring at Ravenstar and looked back down to the rest of the clans.

"I took her in with my kits and she was apprenticed with them. She's been doing better at patrolling and following the rules than my own kits!" Thrushpelt added with a laugh, Tigerpaw next to her smiled mischievously.

"Rogue parents you say?" Moonstar watched Cherrypaw squirm under her cloudy gaze. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Cherrypaw did her best to straighten up despite the leader's intense glare, "The fur you found was probably from my dad. His name is Redd and he's the leader of the group of rogues." Cherrypaw shivered a little thinking about the rogues.

Moonstar seemed satisfied with her explanation, "Well, I guess that could be possible. My patrols will be keeping a sharp eye on you though, one pawstep over the border and you'll wish you never became a part of FernClan." When she finished her sharp words she flicked her tail and jumped down off the peak, leaving the basin with her clan silently following her.

When FernClan returned home, Cherrypaw fell into her nest like her legs were made of lead. For the first time, Bearpaw and Tigerpaw made their nests closer to hers, so they would all be sleeping together. The warmth radiating off of the toms soothed her frayed nerves. Even if her parents didn't want her, at least she had found cats who did.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

' _Today was finally the day!'_ Mudkit was bursting with energy and excitement as much as his siblings for once. He hardly could hear Ravenstar's ceremonial words over the blood roaring in his ears. He sat on the stump along with his brother and sister and did his best to focus.

"FernClan, it gives me great pleasure to announce that very soon our nursery will be empty, and our apprentice den will be full!" Ravenstar started with a smile. "These kits become apprentices today, starting with this fluffy rascal." Thornkit stepped forward, Mudkit could tell he was fluffing his fur out and flexing his claws to look bigger. "From this day on, Thornkit will be known as Thornpaw."

"Thornpaw! Thornpaw! Thornpaw" the clan cheered with enthusiasm matching Ravenstar's mood.

"Your mentor will be my sister Thrushleap, since she has resumed her warrior duties, I believe she will make a fine mentor for you." Thornpaw left the stump to touch noses with Thrushleap, Mudkit noticed he didn't seem nearly as excited as before.

"Next up, Fawnkit, you will now be known as Fawnpaw, your mentor will be Blossomthroat. I hope our strong-willed deputy will get rid of any trepidations you have about becoming a warrior." Fawnpaw stepped off the stump and touched noses with Blossomthroat.

"Finally we have Mudkit. From now until you become a warrior, you will be known as Mudpaw. My brother, Rabbitpelt will be your mentor, a second chance for him to train an apprentice since we lost all of them in the fire." Mudpaw felt tense as he went to touch noses with his new mentor, who was known for being a grouch.

"I wish you all the best of luck in training. This ends our apprentice ceremony. Tonight is the Gathering. The new apprentices and their mentors will go, the other apprentices will stay behind and guard the camp with their mentors." Ravenstar took one more sweeping look over his clan and then returned to his shady den.

When Mudpaw turned his gaze from the leader, he realized Rabbitpelt wasn't next to him anymore. Rabbitpelt was talking to Cloudsong, "I have to give my apprentice a tour of the territory, do you want to come? You can even bring your rogue."

Cloudsong glared at him for his rude words, "Cherrypaw isn't a rogue anymore. She's my apprentice. If you're going to be like that, then ask someone else." She turned her back on him and hit him with her fluffy bristled tail as she walked away.

Thrushleap must have seen the interaction and walked up to her brother, "You can go with me and Blossomthroat." she meowed with a tinge of amusement. "We're taking our new apprentices too."

Mudpaw was relieved to be out of that situation and followed Thrushleap and Rabbitpelt to the entrance of camp where the rest of their patrol was forming. Mudpaw had only ever peered through the dense tunnel of ferns a few times while no one was watching him. Nothing could prepare him for the sight of valley. Lots of open space, blackened thick trunked trees like the one that made Ravenstar's den. Most of the brush was shorter than his mentor's raised tail. It was a lot less green than the inside of the camp. Mudpaw felt a mix of disappointment and intrigue as they made their way around the territory. He learned the scent of Twolegs at their bridge and on their gravel paths. The territory was bordered by river on three sides to the north, west, and south. They only patrolled the west and northern portions of their territory, they would see the south tonight at the Gathering. They returned to camp at sundown, the hunting patrol had arrived just before them. Mudpaw grabbed a rabbit almost as big as he was and dragged it to the elders' den. They all smiled at him when he entered the den and he sat down with them.

"How was your first day of training?" Stormheart nuzzled his head, "Was it everything you hoped?"

Mudpaw munched the hind leg of the rabbit and nodded, "The forest is still burnt up like in your stories."

Gingerstripe stretched and got up to eat some of the rabbit, "It takes a long time for the forest to heal. I remember when I was an apprentice, there was a little fire around the Twoleg bridge, the clumsy beasts let their fire escape their pit. It took years for that patch of forest to recover."

Ashcloud rumbled in agreement, "I wish there was a way we could help the forest. I don't know if you all have noticed, but sometimes I see the Twolegs digging up the earth, and putting in new trees."

Mudpaw's eyes widened in surprise, "Really? That seems like a really clever idea!"

Before anyone else could continue, Cherrypaw entered the den, dropping her fresh kill next to Mudpaw. "Hi guys! Oh, Mudpaw already brought you prey. Oops, I'll eat this then." She sat down and started pulling the feathers off her grey sparrow. "I hope you have fun at your first Gathering Mudpaw." she grinned at him with feathers in her teeth. Her gold eyes seemed to sparkle with sincerity. She didn't seem upset that she couldn't go to the Gathering this time. With her sitting next to him, he realized how muscular she had gotten since she had joined the clan. When she came she was only a little bit bigger than him. He had grown some too, but she was already almost as big as Stormheart. It seemed like the elders were noticing the same thing he was.

"Did you catch that sparrow? You must be becoming quite the hunter." Ashcloud purred in amusement, "You're already as big as a warrior, what kind of training is Cloudsong putting you through?"

Cherrypaw swallowed the rest of her sparrow, "We're usually doing two patrols a day, one for scent marking and a hunting patrol. She says since we are still short on working paws, that we might as well train harder. Depending on when the patrols are, we can squeeze in battle practice if it's not too hot out."

Stormheart and Ashcloud looked impressed. "Two patrols? Very nice. You're going to make a great warrior, I'm sure of it." Stormheart swept his tail around to rest on hers in a supportive fashion. Mudpaw thought he saw tears at the corners of Cherrypaw's eyes.

"Thank you Stormheart, I really appreciate your kind words." Cherrypaw stood and bowed respectfully to the elders before she stepped out of the den.

Mudpaw got up to follow her, but had to stop as he heard Ravenstar, "FernClan, let's head to the Gathering, it's almost moon high!"


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Cherrypaw laid in her nest, trying to relax. Bearpaw and Tigerpaw were making it difficult, both grumbling about not getting to go to the Gathering. They were upset because their sister Nightpaw got to go, because medicine cats and their apprentices almost always went to Gatherings, except during times of serious illness in the clan. She couldn't hear herself think over them, and left the apprentice den to join her mentor at the entrance to the camp.

Cloudsong turned as Cherrypaw approached, "Can't sleep?" As always, her deep emotion filled blue eyes filled her with reassurance.

"Tigerpaw and Bearpaw are too noisy. You would think they would be more humbled since we're just apprentices." Cherrypaw didn't say what was actually on her mind, and Cloudsong could tell.

"That's not all is it? It's okay, you can tell me." Cloudsong moved closer to her apprentice, wrapping her fluffy tail around her comfortingly.

"I guess I'm just missing having parents. Stormheart said something nice to me today, about how I'll be a great warrior. It felt like that was something a dad would say to me, but mine is just…" Cherrypaw sighed deeply.

"A rogue? Or?" Cloudsong gently tried to coax more words from her apprentice.

"Well, Mom said he didn't care about us at all. He never showed interest in me or my sisters. I don't want to be like him, but what if it's just in my blood?" Cherrypaw fidgeted on her paws.

"You obviously aren't. You care about lots of cats. Me, Bearpaw, Tigerpaw, and Mudpaw. Right? You're a great apprentice, you're doing just fine." Cloudsong purred supportively and licked the top of her head.

"Mom said I look like Dad. I think that's why she got rid of me. She couldn't bear to look at me, even though I was just a kit. Her kit." Cherrypaw shuddered, suppressing a sob.

"Shhh...It's going to be okay." Cloudsong groomed her apprentice to try to calm her. "Wait. Do you hear that?"

The undergrowth on the far side of the camp was crunching. Cherrypaw tensed up. Foreign cats burst through the thorn barrier and Cloudsong yowled a battle cry. Dappleface and Dusttail shot out of the warriors' den, and their apprentices flanked them.

"They're surrounding us!" yowled Dusttail, his tail lashing, he turned to Tigerpaw and hissed, "Run. You're the fastest. Get to the Gathering. We'll hold them off. GO!"

Tigerpaw pelted away out the camp and Cherrypaw and Cloudsong joined their clanmates. The rogues circling them parted and a massive burgundy tom padded forward.

"Whoa. Is this mine? I thought you would have died. Now you're part of these weaklings? Guess that figures." Redd growled, straightening up, his intimidating form towering over his followers. Their ears only reached his broad shoulders. "I guess it doesn't matter now. I'm taking this territory, even if I have to kill every cat in it myself."

A growl built in his throat, and released as he pounced on Cherrypaw, sharp claws digging into her pelt and his weight crushing her. She could hear the other rogues attacking her clanmates, she had to get out of this herself. Trying to focus on anything else except the weight of her father trying to kill her, she remembered the move to get out of this position. She gathered her legs under her and braced herself, then pushed as hard as she could to roll over. She knocked Redd onto his side and dislodged his claws in her back, allowing her to stand up. Her eyes whipped around the clearing in worry about her clanmates, but there wasn't time to help them. Redd slammed into her side and nearly knocked her off her feet again, but she scrambled away with only a couple scratches through her hind leg. She hissed at him and turned to face him, rearing up and clawing at his eyes. A few of her strikes connected and blood started welling up on his cheek. He blinked furiously, trying to get the blood out of his eye. She reared up again and slashed his nose, more blood soaking his dark red fur. He grimaced and kept one eye closed, swiping his paw at her with no depth perception. His paw hit her ear, the weight of it making her dizzy. She shook her head and focused, readying her back legs and then jumping onto his shoulders, tearing into the meat of his back as hard as she could with all four paws. He growled and tried to roll her off, but she clung to his back even with him on top of her, biting fiercely at his neck. He rolled another time and reached around with his jaws to tear her off his back by her foreleg. His teeth sank into her paw pads and she screamed in agony. He threw her onto the ground underneath him and held her down with a paw, blood pouring down his face. He prepared himself to go for her throat, but was knocked off of Cherrypaw by a blur of black fur. Cherrypaw rolled onto her feet, her bleeding paw barely hurt after the adrenaline of almost dying and she recognized Thrushleap tearing at Redd's belly with her hind claws. Before Cherrypaw could help, Redd threw Thrushleap off and yowled a retreat as he realized the rogues were now outnumbered. The rogues fled out the hole they made in the camp wall, some warriors tailed the fleeing cats, but Cherrypaw was starting to feel the burning throb of her injuries. She looked around the camp, her vision starting to haze from exhaustion. She laid down in the bloody moss clearing of camp, and felt a warm pelt rest against hers with a soothing scent. Her mom had returned. She was too tired and in pain to feel the bitter abandonment she felt before. All she could feel was the gentle rasping tongue cleaning her injuries. It was the best feeling she had ever felt in her life.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Her muscles were stiff when she awoke. Cherrypaw looked around, realizing she was inside the medicine cat's den. The cool gray stone floor under her thin nest of moss had probably made her sore. She saw her forepaw wrapped in cobwebs with the smell of bitter herbs underneath. She remembered the battle at once, and fighting her dad. Her heart raced as she mentally reviewed the fight, then felt stung when she remembered the scent and touch of her mother. She scanned the den, ' _Where is Mojo? No sign of Brightshade or Nightpaw either._ '. She slowly rose to her feet, minus the forepaw she kept lifted. She hobbled out of Brightshade's den and looked around camp. Nothing looked out of ordinary, until she saw the hole in the barrier of brambles that the rogues burst through.

Brightshade padded up to her from Ravenstar's den. "Sorry I wasn't there when you woke up! I thought you would keep sleeping for a while, you were hurt the worst. The bite on your forepaw was really nasty."

Cherrypaw acknowledged his words with a nod, but wasn't totally listening to him, lost in her own thoughts. "Where is my mom?"

Brightshade smiled, "Oh right! She's in Ravenstar's den with him and Blossomthroat. I'll let you go, come back to my den if your paw hurts anymore."

Cherrypaw slowly padded to the leader's den and pushed her head past the lichen hanging down over the entrance. Mojo was sitting in a loaf across from Ravenstar and Blossomthroat who were also sitting in relaxed positions. She tried to find words, but when she opened her mouth no sound came out.

Ravenstar sat up a little, "Are you feeling better? It's unfortunate that your first battle had to turn out so poorly for you. It could have been a lot worse if it weren't for your mother! Tigerpaw had fallen down a steep slope into a hole in his haste to reach the Gathering and your mother found him and pulled him out. He pulled a claw and she helped him walk the last leg to the Gathering. If it weren't for her bravery, we could have lost a cat to the rogues!"

Mojo's amber eyes shone with benevolence and her tail tip twitched, she seemed pleased with herself. The praise of the leader made her purr. It was hard for Cherrypaw to believe this was the same cat who had abandoned her. Her fur was more shiny and her ribs weren't visible anymore. Warmth replaced fear in the molly's eyes.

"Maybe you would like to speak to her in private, I'll go check on the rest of our injured clanmates." Ravenstar stood up and flicked his tail for the deputy to follow. They left the den. After the last sound of lichen shaking stopped, Cherrypaw turned to her mom.

"So, what are you doing here? You left me for dead." Cherrypaw stood opposite of her, her stiff posture matching her words.

"I thought I was doing the right thing… I couldn't kill you myself and I couldn't watch you starve. I was hoping that Spot and Speckle would live." Mojo's eyes darkened with grief. "I'm sorry Cherry. I never should have left you."

Cherrypaw felt a little better. Her mom wasn't heartless, and had also suffered. "I'm sorry Spot and Speckle died." She didn't know what else to say, but decided to slowly settle next to her mom and groom her.

Ravenstar came back to his den and roused Cherrypaw and Mojo. "Hey, we can't sleep in my den all day."

Cherrypaw stood and bowed to address her leader. "Sorry Ravenstar."

"We have to do something about Mojo, she could join the clan if that's what you want?" Ravenstar mused, not sure of his words. It was clear that he never had this situation before.

Mojo spoke up, "I would rather go home. After being on the run with the rogues and then on my own starving, I've had enough of the forest."

Cherrypaw looked at her mother's tired eyes, realizing that she didn't actually know how old she was, but she was definitely showing signs of age. The flecks of white fur around her muzzle and throughout the rest of her dark tortoiseshell fur became evident to Cherrypaw and she nodded. "I agree. She should go home." _'Probably living with Twolegs is easier on an old cat than being in the forest.'_ she added to herself in thought.

Ravenstar waved his tail in agreement, "Alright. So... We'll send her home with a patrol across the Twoleg bridge, with all the rogues out we shouldn't be letting anyone travel alone." He sat down to think harder. "Once your paw is healed, you, Cloudsong, Rabbitpelt and Mudpaw will escort Mojo to the edge of our territory."

Cherrypaw nodded, "Thank you Ravenstar." She nudged Mojo and they both got up and left his den.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Mudpaw bounced on his paws in anticipation. Normally being part of the dawn patrol wore him out, but learning that he was going to get to be part of the patrol that escorted Cherrypaw 's mom home had him bursting with energy. He checked on Cherrypaw a couple times a day, along with Nightpaw. She made reports to Brightshade on the status of the paw injury, but he hadn't approved her for travel yet. Mudpaw brought fresh kill from the pile to the elders and then he returned to pick a sparrow to take to Cherrypaw.

"Hey Mudpaw." Cherrypaw looked up from her light sleep in the otherwise empty apprentice den. "Thanks for bringing me prey."

He set down the bird and sat across from her with a pleased tail wag. "No problem. I know that you need food to recover. How are you feeling today?"

Cherrypaw started eating the sparrow, "Very bored. Going from training to just sleeping in the den has been very dull. How has your day been?"

"I went on the dawn patrol, there's no sign of the rogues so far. It's been a quarter moon, maybe they're still recovering too. I'd rather not run into them, Rabbitpelt says my battle moves need work." Mudpaw meowed, drawing little lines on the ground with his claws.

"Really? The last time we trained battle moves I thought you did pretty good!" Cherrypaw looked surprised. "Maybe Rabbitpelt is just a grouch."

Mudpaw grinned at her, "We should train again when you're better. I think it would be really fun since you're so big and tough." He reached out and pretended to bat at her face playfully.

Cherrypaw rose to her three paws and towered over Mudpaw by a head. She swatted at him gently with her hurt paw and hissed playfully back.

Both cats took turns doing swipes in slow motion with dramatic yowls. Cherrypaw brought her paw down on Mudpaw's head and he feigned being knocked unconscious and lolled his tongue out of his mouth.

Mudpaw opened his eyes the smallest slits he could, peeking at Cherrypaw, who was trying to decide what she wanted to do. "So strong. The mighty Cherrypaw has taken me down!" He meowed, stifling a laugh.

Cherrypaw laughed, but her expression changed to a more panicked look and she whispered, "Hey get up, here comes Rabbitpelt!"

Mudpaw scrambled to his paws in time for Rabbitpelt to grimace. "Hey, Mudpaw, quit wasting my time. We're supposed to go hunting, let's go."

Mudpaw looked back at Cherrypaw and nodded a good bye and then followed his mentor out of the apprentice den.

They split up and were hunting around the base of Fang Cliff. Mudpaw was feeling distracted. He couldn't help thinking he would rather be in the apprentice's den with Cherrypaw instead of out in the cold rain. Prey was harder to scent in rain. He spotted a wet rabbit and caught it easily. He pushed it into a crack in the cliff face to retrieve later and kept searching. Opening his mouth to drink in the prey scents onto the glands in his mouth, he started stalking towards a possible kill. The smell of a sparrow was mixed with something else, and blood. He looked around, ' _Raccoon…?'_ He couldn't spot the fat grey furred creature, but decided he wouldn't linger. _'I should tell Rabbitpelt when we're done hunting.'_

He continued along the water's edge in the opposite direction of the raccoon scent. He found his thoughts drifted back to Cherrypaw. She was so strong. He had seen her fight her dad. It was amazing. He couldn't picture himself being able to fight his own dad Dustpelt, let alone if he was the size of the rogue leader. Her pelt rippled with muscle when she moved and the sheen of her thick red fur made her look even bigger. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he picked up prey scent and Rabbitpelt. He followed the prey scent to the base of a tree and spotted a scruffy squirrel. His pounce was a little sloppy, but he dragged the squirrel back by the haunches and killed it. He carried it in his jaws and went back to where he stored the rabbit. He met back up with Rabbitpelt, who had caught two blue jays. They nodded mouth full greetings and headed back to camp.

After dropping their prey on the fresh kill pile, Mudpaw spoke up, "Hey Rabbitpelt, did you scent the raccoon along the water?"

Rabbitpelt's eyes widened, "No, I'll go report to Ravenstar. You can relax for now. Thank you."

Mudpaw headed back to the apprentice den, which was now almost full. His siblings were back from their battle training and Bearpaw and Tigerpaw were busy arguing over which of their stalking techniques for mice were better. Cherrypaw had moved her nest towards the back to the bramble bush away from the noise to sleep, he made his nest next to hers. He settled down next to her sleeping form, her sweet scent made his pelt burn. He tried his best to relax. She didn't seem to return his feelings so he should just try to stay her friend. That was the answer, right? He wasn't sure. Maybe he could try asking her. She was always so straight forward, he appreciated that about her. ' _I thought only warriors were supposed to have mates, they never told me I would feel this way before that…'_ He shifted in his nest uncomfortably, which woke up Cherrypaw. He feigned being asleep and she nosed his fur sleepily as if checking who was next to her, then rolled over and went back to sleep. ' _Oh Starclan...I don't know how much longer I can stand it!'_ He scooted a little bit away from her so their backs weren't touching and eventually drifted to sleep.

Mudpaw opened his eyes and found himself in a glossy silver colored forest. The dark sky held no stars, confusing him. ' _Starclan…?'_ He must be dreaming. Why else would the sky not have stars? A glowing figure approached him, their pelt shining like the moon.

"Greetings Mudpaw. My name is Stoneleap. I was MossClan's medicine cat until just a few moons ago." The shaggy pelted grey cat's face looked friendly, but Mudpaw had never seen him before.

"Why am I here? Did I die in my sleep?" Mudpaw looked to the elder cat with confusion.

"No, you wanted the assistance of Starclan. I've been sent to help you." Stoneleap licked a paw and groomed his face, clearly relaxed. "Seems like you've been having molly trouble." Stoneleap's laugh was scratchy with age.

Mudpaw's pelt burned again, but with embarrassment. "Yes, I have feelings for my friend Cherrypaw. I thought only warriors were supposed to take mates. Isn't that part of the code?"

Stoneleap's bluish eyes glimmered with amusement, "It's not part of the code, it's just a rule to keep apprentices from jumping into relationships before they're emotionally developed. If every cat acted on their first heat or rut, there would be too many kits in the clan to feed!" He laughed again, then tried to settle himself. "You know medicine cats aren't' supposed to have kits right? That's the first part of our own special code."

Mudpaw nodded, "Isn't it so that molly cats aren't in the nursery instead of being a medicine cat?"

Stoneleap nodded, "You may find that the code is being bent." Stoneleap's glowing form started to quickly fade.

Mudpaw watched him go, feeling more confused than before. "So..? Should I bend the code? Should I find who's bending the code? Why did you tell me that?" His words felt as pointless as the previous conversation and he woke up feeling frustrated.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Cherrypaw was woken up by Nightpaw gently rotating her forepaw. The molly was peeling away the layers of cobweb to replace the mash of herbs on her paw pad. She sighed and held still for Nightpaw, waiting for the sting of the new medicine. It didn't come. She opened her eyes and looked at her forepaw, there was fresh pink skin where the bite used to be. She sprung up onto her paws with sudden excitement, knocking over a surprised Nightpaw.

"Yes! Finally!" Cherrypaw yowled and ran a tiny circle around the den.

"I thought you were asleep Cherrypaw…" Nightpaw got up and laughed a little. "You should be good to go, let's head to Brightshade to be sure." She flicked her tail and Cherrypaw followed.

Just being out of the den in the fresh air of the clearing was already fantastic, Cherrypaw bounced on her paws and didn't feel any pain. She could hear the swish over her own tail as she waved it, hardly listening to Brightshade's words of approval.

"Ravenstar said you can leave at moonhigh. Until then, maybe your mentor has something for you to do." Brightshade finished and Cherrypaw nodded, heading out of his den.

Cloudsong was outside waiting for her and they greeted each other with an affectionate nuzzle, "I'm so glad you're better!"

Cherrypaw beamed excitedly, "What are we gonna do before the mission?"

Cloudsong motioned for her to follow, "I was thinking we could do some battle training so you can catch up with Bearpaw and Tigerpaw. We're going to meet them at North Fork. You remember right? It's that spot where the river splits into two and there's all the tiny rocks?"

Cherrypaw nodded and they left camp, arriving to the shallow river bed where the other cats were waiting. Dusttail was standing on a broad flat rock that stuck out of the water and Bearpaw was next to him. It looked like they were trying to fish. Dappleface was sunning herself on the bank, Tigerpaw was bouncing from rock to rock, practicing his agility. Tigerpaw leaped to the bank and grinned, "You're back!"

Cherrypaw nodded and smiled, "You ready to practice with me? I'm excited to see if I can beat you."

Dappleface got up and joined her apprentice and Cloudsong meowed, "Alright, we're going to see how you react to some of the new moves your friends have learned before we teach you them." Dappleface nodded to Tigerpaw and backed off, Cloudsong doing the same.

The apprentices circled with backs arched for a few moments before Tigerpaw dashed under her belly, lifting his head up and throwing her. She scrambled to her paws and watched for his next move. His eyes betrayed him and she jumped out of the way of his pounce and then jumped on his back while he was trying to get up. Her weight held him down and she almost started tearing into his back like when she fought her dad. She shook her head, this was training, no claws. She stepped off of him.

"Very good, you see how you have to take your opponent by surprise to unbalance them if they're bigger than you? You didn't know he was going to go under your belly when he knocked you over, when you intentionally sat on him he couldn't push you off because you were using your weight." Cloudsong circled them as she explained. "You have to know when to be light on your paws and when to stand firm. Now you try what he did."

Cherrypaw and Tigerpaw circled again, when Cherrypaw tried to do the move she found herself too big to get her shoulders under him all the way. Trying to adapt the move she threw him sideways onto his head instead of over her back. She waited for him to get up and then prepared to pounce. She purposefully looked to the side of him then jumped on him as he dodged the other way. She pinned him again and then stepped off.

"Good job both of you. I'm sure you're bored of getting sat on Tigerpaw, let's go hunting." Dappleface chuckled and led her apprentice back into the forest.

Cloudsong turned her attention to Dusttail and Bearpaw, next to them was a little pile of what looked like bugs. Cherrypaw walked through the icy water and leapt onto the rock they were on, investigating the bugs.

"These are called crawfish, you can eat them, their shells are hard but the insides are soft and fishy. I was just trying to show Bearpaw how to fish, but there's only crawfish here today!" Dusttail explained and laughed a little. "Bearpaw you ready to practice with Cherrypaw?"

"What about the crawfish?" Bearpaw's eyes were wide as he eyed their slow moving catch.

"You can share them with her, how's that?" Dusttail stood from his fishing position and stretched.

Bearpaw nudged one to Cherrypaw, it was still moving. ' _Creepy. How do I go about this?'_

Dusttail must have noticed her confusion and sat next to her, "These become crowfood a lot faster than normal prey, so we leave them alive until you eat them." He extended a paw and crunched the body of the crawfish, then delicately hooked the meat out. Cherrypaw crouched and licked up the weird soft meat. It was unlike anything she ever had before. Tasted fishy like how the river smelt, but also like she'd eaten a mouthful of mud. She forced herself to swallow it and weakly smiled at Dusttail. "Thanks Dusttail. Very interesting." She could hear Cloudsong stifle a laugh.

"Anyway, we should get on with the training, the sun's going down." Cloudsong made a sweeping motion with her tail and the apprentices jumped off the rock onto the bank.

"Let's make this interesting. Instead of telling you to use your new battle moves, we're going to set up a mock battle. Whoever can get in position for a death bite wins, alright?" Dusttail grinned in excitement. "Go to opposite ends of the clearing and rush each other."

Cherrypaw paced to the far end of the river, Bearpaw was a tree's length away. With a wave of Cloudsong's bright white tail, they charged at each other. The sound of her paws pounding on the earth filled her ears, or maybe it was the pounding of her blood. He reached her first and made a jump for her back, but she bounced up, making him bounce off instead of landing. He scrambled to his paws and lunged at her again, swiping at her with barely sheathed claws. She swiped back, one of her strikes connecting with his muzzle. He shook his head and growled, then tried to jump on her back again. He landed and gripped with claws. She rolled onto her back, hearing the huff of him losing his air with satisfaction. She kept rolling, displacing his claws in her back and then rolling to her paws. She stood on him, pinning him on his back with his throat exposed. Bearpaw looked in shock.

"Alright that's enough, good job you guys!" Cloudsong cheered. "Let's head back to camp and rest."

Cherrypaw let Bearpaw up, "Good job Bearpaw." Bearpaw nodded and walked to his mentor with his tail down. Cherrypaw followed Cloudsong into the forest back to camp. The sun had set, and they had prey and rested until moonhigh.

Cherrypaw woke up from a light nudge from Cloudsong. "Hey, it's time. We're meeting in the clearing and Ravenstar is going to send us off."

Cherrypaw rose to her paws and stretched, then nudged Mudpaw who also rose and stretched. They padded out of the apprentices' den quietly past Mudpaw's sleeping siblings. Rabbitpelt and Cloudsong were sitting by the meeting stump, it looked like they were already arguing.

Ravenstar was watching the apprentices approach. "Cherrypaw, go get Mojo out of the elders' den."

Cherrypaw entered the elders' den and nudged her mom, "Mom come on it's time to go."

Mojo opened her eyes and looked up at her and yawned, "Alright, one moment." She stretched while laying down, then got up and stretched a couple different ways.

Cherrypaw could feel the waiting patrol's eyes burning in the direction of the elders' den as Mojo took her time getting up and she meowed tersely, "Come on!" She felt a little bad for rushing an old cat and added, "Please!"

Mojo finally finished and followed Cherrypaw out the den to the rest of the patrol. Only Rabbitpelt's face betrayed the annoyance she felt before.

Ravenstar straightened up and addressed the group, "While Mojo was a good help with the battle against the rogues, the time has come for her to return to her Twolegs. I am sure you will all do well, despite the long journey ahead of you. If you are not back in three sunhighs we will send a patrol to look for you. I wish you luck, may StarClan guide your paws."


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The silhouettes of the patrol as they trekked through the valley were dark against the landscape awash with silver moonlight. Rabbitpelt had taken the leadership role. Mudpaw could see how he could have been leader as he watched him make decisions on how to deal with obstacles in the terrain on the journey. His faults however, were also clear. His mentor should be teaching him how to navigate with the moon and stars in the sky instead of Cloudsong.

Cloudsong explained to both apprentices, "The moon, like the sun, rises in the east and sets in the west. In our territory, it isn't that important to know which direction you're heading in because you've memorized where all the landmarks are. In unfamiliar territory like we are headed, it helps to know we are going the right direction. In this case we are heading east."

Mudpaw and Cherrypaw listened intently, Cherrypaw spoke up, "So how do you figure that out?"

Cloudsong pointed her tail up at the sky, "We left at moonhigh, when the moon is highest in the sky. It is halfway through night. After that, the moon is setting which means…"

Mudpaw answered, trying to show he was also listening, "West!"

Cloudsong smiled at him kindly, "That's right Mudpaw, so if we travel with the moon right behind us, then we're going east."

Both apprentices nodded, Mudpaw watched Mojo walking ahead of him. It looked like she was trying to keep up with Rabbitpelt despite her age. It looked like Rabbitpelt was actually speeding up to avoid her. He remembered that one of the elders told him that Rabbitpelt had gotten beaten by a rogue kittypet when he was an apprentice. Mudpaw guessed his xenophobic attitude was to cover up his embarrassment of being beaten by an untrained cat. ' _Surely he's stronger now, right? I guess it's hard to stop being a jerk after so long?'_ He wasn't sure.

They reached the last FernClan scent marker, when they crossed it, Mudpaw drank in the scent of fresh forest. He'd never been this far away from camp. Somehow even the grass felt different. Being outside of the borders suddenly filled him with a sense of uneasiness. ' _What if the rogues are out here?'_ They reached a large clearing and Mojo looked around.

"This is familiar. This is where the rogue camp was when I left. You can still see the nests." Mojo meowed and walked up to one of the round piles of moss. "This...This is where I was when I had my kits." She turned and looked at Cherrypaw with a deep sadness. Cherrypaw nodded and moved to go comfort her mother.

Rabbitpelt didn't seem to notice the emotions going through the rest of the patrol and meowed firmly, "Search the area. Maybe there are clues as to where the rogues went."

The patrol fanned out in different directions across the clearing, leaving Mojo at her nest. Mudpaw was focused on trying to detect scent trails coming from the entrances of dens.

The first thing he heard was a pained yowl. He whipped his head around and ran in the direction of the sound, only to find himself blocked off from Mojo by burly rogue cats. He could see Redd over all over them, he saw Mojo's body hanging from his jaws. She was limp. His heart started to race and he strained his eyes, she was still breathing. He couldn't see his clanmates over the rogues, he didn't want to fight single pawed against six cats. Redd's golden gaze glanced around the clearing haughtily. His ears lifted as he saw something. Mudpaw didn't dare stand on his hind paws and expose his belly to the rogues to get a better look. The sound of pawsteps almost seemed thundering and suddenly they stopped. Cherrypaw leapt over the ring of rogues and landed on Redd's back with a furious screech. Redd dropped Mojo on the ground and was bucking, trying to throw Cherrypaw off. The rogues around him broke their defenses up and turned, trying to help their leader. His clanmates started attacking them, so he picked out a smallish ginger tom and jumped on him, digging his claws into the nasty flea bitten fur of his opponent. The other fighting cats were probably making noise, but nothing could be heard over the intense growling and screeches of the two biggest cats. Mudpaw bit the ginger tom on the ear, tearing away a chunk of cartilage that made him sick to watch. His opponent scrambled out of his grip and sprinted out of the clearing, surely wailing. He looked around, Redd and Cherrypaw were between tussles and circling. A solid black molly was preparing a pounce onto Cherrypaw and he sprung before she did, digging his claws into the molly's haunches. She whipped around and bit his face. His cheeks stung with her teeth in them, but he he dug his claws into her hind leg harder and bit into her foot until he felt the paw pad gushing blood into his mouth. The molly reeled back and screeched, he pulled back and swiped at her a couple times until she limped away. As she left he threw up her blood that he had swallowed, battles really weren't his thing. It looked like the rest of the rogues had fled, leaving just Cherrypaw and Redd. They were violently wrestling and both bleeding pretty bad. He started trying to get up and help, but Mojo stopped him. She mouthed 'This is their fight, don't.' Mudpaw nodded. The moments crawled by, he couldn't stand watching Cherrypaw get hurt anymore. Neither could Cloudsong apparently, because she leapt in and knocked Redd off of Cherrypaw. Cherrypaw got to her paws and pinned Redd on his back.

She screeched in his face then yowled, "Give in. You can't beat us!"

"What, are you going to kill me?" Redd snarled, his face still twisted with a smug energy and strength that didn't reflect his position.

Cherrypaw growled with ferocity unlike any cat Mudpaw had ever heard. She bit his throat and yanked with force, blood spraying her muzzle. Redd gurgled a painful sound as his mouth filled with blood, then silence.

No cat moved for a moment, all in shock. Mudpaw could hear the forest around him full of life, but it almost didn't feel real. Like some kind of nightmare, his heart raced. Her heard the grass behind him shiver with the sound of a cat, but he didn't turn to look.

Cherrypaw stood up and moved over to Mojo, her paws leaving faint pawprints of blood where she walked. Her mother seemed uninjured, so Cherrypaw began to clean her injuries in silence. The rest of the patrol followed, no words passed between them until Mudpaw spoke up.

"We should try to find something to prevent infection before we go. Brightshade said horsetail or goldenrod would work good. Horsetail is short green stalks with soft needles all the way around it. Goldenrod is a tall woody stemmed plant with yellow flowers." Mudpaw meowed, trying his best to remember what he was told.

Rabbitpelt growled at him, "Why don't you go look since you're the least hurt then. Go." The black and white tom grimaced as he flicked his tail, it looked like he got bitten on the base of it.

Mudpaw didn't have to search long, bringing back piles of horsetail. He then started chewing it into a poultice and applying it to the patrol's wounds, and into the bite wound on his face. The numbing properties seemed to be working, Cloudsong and Rabbitpelt were on their feet. He did Cherrypaw's wounds next. She seemed quiet.

"You okay? Where does it hurt the worst?" Mudpaw began chewing up horsetail for her.

She sighed softly and rolled so that her shoulder wound was visible. "This, he bit me real hard."

Mudpaw's stomach lurched, the size of the bite and the depth looked extremely painful, but Cherrypaw hadn't brought it up until now. He applied horsetail to it and meowed, "I think this is gonna need some cobwebs, it's still bleeding. I'll be back. Don't move, please."

She huffed, "Whatever you say."

Mudpaw tried to calm himself as he searched for cobwebs, ' _It's gonna be okay. She isn't dying. She's acting like she can't even feel it. It's going to be fine. As long as it doesn't get infected…'_ He found some cobwebs inside a gnarled stump and came back, dressing her wound.

Right after he finished, she slowly got to her feet, "I think we should rest for today. If anyone can hunt right now, we need some fresh kill. We'll wait until night falls again then continue. Sound good?"

Rabbitpelt opened his mouth to object and Cloudsong slapped her tail over his mouth, "Yes Cherrypaw, I'll go hunting. Mudpaw will you go with me?"

Mudpaw nodded and followed Cloudsong out of their little camp. ' _Hopefully we can get this mission done and go home soon. I really don't care for this travelling thing.'_


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Cherrypaw laid in one of the nests of the abandoned rogue camp next to her mom. Mojo had been quiet since the battle. Cherrypaw felt like she had been trampled on, the exhaustion the journey and the battle had her wearing thin. She let herself drift off to sleep, but it only felt like a moment had passed when she woke to Mudpaw bringing her and Mojo fresh kill. "Thanks Mudpaw." she meowed as she dug into the rabbit he had brought. He waved his tail to acknowledge her, his mouth full of the fat sparrow he was eating. She looked at the other bird he had caught for Mojo and thought, ' _Man, Mudpaw is a really good hunter. That would make him a good mate.'_ She could feel her pelt burn and she surprised herself, ' _Not that I need a mate...Right?'_ She wasn't sure. She had stopped eating her rabbit, and Mudpaw had noticed.

His warm amber eyes filled with concern, "Y-you feeling alright? Normally you finish before me."

She mentally shook herself and tried to answer, "Yeah I'm okay. Shoulder hurts some, but I'll be able to keep moving soon."

He nodded and smiled, "I'm glad. I'm sure you'll heal up. I did just like Brightshade showed me."

She yawned and stretched, "I need to go get rid of the body before I go to sleep. You think Rabbitpelt would do the first watch or do you want to?"

Mudpaw looked up at her with what felt like affection, "I'll do the first watch. No problem!"

She rose to her paws, gently stretching her hurt shoulder, then left the little den. Cloudsong and Rabbitpelt had the same idea as her, and were already digging a big burial hole.

Rabbitpelt saw her and meowed sarcastically, "Ah, thank StarClan. Was wondering if the mini bobcat would come help." He stepped out of the hole.

She shot him a pointed look, as did Cloudsong. Rabbitpelt stalked back to the den and sat outside of it, grooming himself. Cherrypaw turned her attention towards the shallow pit of earth.

Cloudsong whispered to her, "Are you doing okay? I know he was trying to kill you, but he was your dad too."

Cherrypaw kept digging and answered, "He was going to kill mom. That was enough for me to hate him. Mom says maybe he had too much big cat blood in him. It drove him mad. I don't know."

Cloudsong blinked a couple times in surprise, then started moving Redd's body towards the hole "Yeah I guess he does look a lot like a bobcat."

"Do you think I'm going to be like that? A cat killer? I did kill him after all." Cherrypaw looked into her dad's golden eyes, seeing herself in the eerie reflection.

Cloudsong looked at the body then at Cherrypaw, "I don't think so. Just because you look alike and share blood doesn't make you like him."

Cherrypaw kept staring into the dead eyes, "When we were fighting, it felt amazing. Blow for blow shedding more blood. It was the best feeling in the world to fight as hard as I could. I didn't think I was going to kill him when we started. It felt like I was losing control of myself."

Cloudsong couldn't find any words to console her apprentice. Her discomfort pulled Cherrypaw away from her dark thoughts. She pushed the body into the hole and started kicking dirt over it.

Cloudsong helped bury the body. When it was done she meowed finally, "You're going to be okay. Maybe this battle was just really emotionally intense for you. That's why you couldn't control yourself."

When they headed back to the den, Cherrypaw noticed that Mojo had eaten her fresh kill and gone back to sleep. She settled down between Mudpaw and Mojo and fell into an exhausted sleep.

When she woke, Cherrypaw was a little disappointed that Mudpaw wasn't next to her. ' _He is always so warm next to me.'_ Cherrypaw gently nudged Mojo awake, "Hey we're gonna keep moving, come out when you're ready." Cherrypaw left the den and started washing her face with her paw, ' _No way I'm waiting for her stretching again.'_ she laughed to herself. Rabbitpelt was still standing guard, but didn't speak to her when she came out of the den. Cloudsong came through the entrance of the makeshift camp with her mouth full of mice hanging by their tails. Mudpaw followed, also carrying mice, his tail held high.

They dropped them at the other cats' paws and Mudpaw meowed excitedly, "Check out all the mice we caught, there's enough for everybody. He pushed an especially fat mouse towards Cherrypaw with a smile.

She smiled back and picked it up, mumbling around it, "Thank you!"

Mojo finally came out and selected a mouse with a murmur of thanks. The patrol sat and ate close together, eventually all rising to their paws.

Cloudsong took the lead this time, "We're nearly there. We just have to cross a couple Twoleg paths and then we'll be by the houses."

Cherrypaw was confused, "How do you know where their dens are?"

Cloudsong meowed back, "When I was a new warrior there was an outbreak of greencough. It's a terrible sickness cats can get in the winter. I had never heard of it before, but Ashcloud had a vision of the herb that could cure our sick cats. He said it was in a place with many square dens made of stone. The clans had never been this far east before, but the river to the west has cliffs across it. So a patrol of me, Thrushleap, and Brightshade, who was Brightpaw at the time, went on a journey this way to the houses. We found the sweet smelling herb and Brightshade wrapped it up in some bigger leaves and we returned in time to save all the sick cats."

"Oh, is that why Ravenstar picked you for this mission?" Mudpaw asked.

"Lots of the clan thinks Ravenstar was a bad choice of leader, including his own brother," Cloudsong glared at Rabbitpelt then continued, ", but I think he's much more clever than people give him credit for." Cloudsong swished her tail in satisfaction.

Cherrypaw smirked at the disgruntled look on Rabbitpelt's face. Mudpaw nudged her and whispered, "Who knew sibling rivalry could be so tense?" She nodded in agreement.

The patrol came to the top of a steep hill, from the top they could see a ways away. Long fields covered with short bristly fir trees surrounded big stone dens. ' _Those must be houses.'_ Mojo ran with surprising vigor for her age down the hill in excitement. The rest of the cats followed her, but with a lot more caution. They quietly stalked through the orderly rows of trees, unnerved by the tidy placement, it felt unnatural. Mojo was walking with her tail held high and rambling on about how nice her Twoleg was.

They reached a house with an entrance made for cats, which Mojo had pointed out.

"Thank you for bringing me home. Thank you Cherrypaw, Cloudsong, Mudpaw, and Rabbitpelt. I couldn't have made that trip alone, I would have been killed by Redd for sure. I appreciate everything FernClan has done for me. Now I can rest my old bones in the comfort of my home thanks to you." Mojo's eyes were full of warmth as she spoke. She nuzzled Cherrypaw, "I love you. I hope you have a happy life. Good bye."

She went inside, but the clan cats remained apprehensive. They looked through a clear hole in the wall of the house from a tree outside. Cherrypaw watched her mother pad around the den and meow loudly, a Twoleg appeared from somewhere and made loud noises at her. ' _I think that sounds friendly?'_ Mojo let herself be picked up by the Twoleg's weird hairless paws and nuzzled the Twoleg's face.

Cherrypaw heard Cloudsong let out a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad she could get back to her home. In a way it's like her family, her clan." Cloudsong mewed to the patrol. She leapt down out of the tree, and Cherrypaw followed, her shoulder injury throbbing as she landed.

She couldn't help feeling a little sad. Technically she had just lost both her parents. The patrol started heading back the way they had came, when they reached the hill that hung over the small valley of Twoleg houses, she looked back. The sun was rising along the tree studded horizon, it felt like she could feel the warmth of her mother's love in that light. This settled the sadness in Cherrypaw's heart, making the rest of the trip home a lot easier. The successful mood spread through the patrol and they made it back to camp before moonhigh. Cherrypaw settled in her nest to rest, still feeling the warmth of the sun in her fur, even though the sun had set.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Mudpaw woke up next to Cherrypaw, feeling more refreshed than he had in the past couple days. He gave Cherrypaw's shoulder a sniff where he had applied the cobwebs. It didn't smell infected, but he should probably get Brightshade to check. He stood and stretched, then quietly padded out of the apprentices' den. He was happy to be back in camp, warriors and apprentices returning from their patrols, the chatter of the elders, Ravenstar and Blossomthroat quietly talking outside of his den, it was peaceful. He entered the medicine cat den, Brightshade looked like he was giving Nightpaw a stern talking to. Mudpaw waited at the entrance politely, trying not to eavesdrop. Whatever it was, Nightpaw left the den with an angry huff.

Mudpaw spoke up, "Brightshade, would you come look at Cherrypaw please? We fought the rogues when we went on our mission, and she got hurt pretty bad. I did my best, but it would make me feel better if you checked."

Brightshade looked oddly upset, his fur was disheveled, but he tried to straighten himself. "Yes, of course Mudpaw, I already checked on Cloudsong and Rabbitpelt this morning because they wanted to go on the dawn patrol. They were fine, the horsetail you applied did its job."

Brightshade left the den and Mudpaw followed him back to Cherrypaw's nest. When they came in she woke up and stretched laying down. Through a yawn she meowed, "Hey, what's up?"

Brightshade started to observe the cobwebs on her shoulder, "Just checking to see how you're healing. How do you feel?" He started pulling away the covering over her wound and giving the bite a sniff.

"Sore and a bit stiff, I think all the walking on it yesterday didn't help." Cherrypaw tried to stretch her shoulder, but it didn't move the full range of motion it normally had.

"Hmmm, doesn't seem to be infected. It's healing well. Let me go get some comfrey root, that will help with the stiffness." Brightshade said, leaving the den and coming back after a few short moments. Mudpaw could tell he was still shaken from his argument with Nightpaw. He wondered what the medicine cats could have been arguing about. He was lost in thought until Brightshade got up again, having applied the chewed root poultice to her wound and meowed abruptly, "Alright that should do it. See you later." He left the den in a rush.

Cherrypaw looked up at Mudpaw, then stood up and looked down at him, "Medicine cats are weird, right?"

Mudpaw nodded, "Yeah. Him and Nightpaw were arguing earlier. I guess he's upset about it."

Cherrypaw stretched, "Great Starclan, I already feel a lot better."

Mudpaw grinned at her, glad that she felt better. She smiled back. He felt the sudden realization that he should tell her how he felt about her, that maybe she returned his feelings. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Ravenstar's yowl from the clearing.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey, please gather in the clearing!"

Cherrypaw's eyes lit up, "Let's go!" She bowled him over as she ran out of the den excitedly.

Mudpaw got to his paws and followed her, sitting next to her and looking up at Ravenstar who was standing on the leader's stump.

Ravenstar paced a little before he spoke, looking a little nervous. "As you all know, Cloudsong, Cherrypaw, Rabbitpelt, and Mudpaw had a mission to return the kittypet Mojo to her Twoleg house. They were successful in doing that, but on the way they ran into a group of rogues. They were ambushed, but Cherrypaw tackled their leader Redd and eventually killed him. Her mentor, Cloudsong, and I agree that this courageous act proves she is ready to become a warrior."

Stormheart, the elderly previous leader spoke up, "She's already bigger than most of our warriors!" He chuckled good naturedly.

Ravenstar nodded respectfully to the elder and continued, "Exactly. Come forward Cherrypaw."

Cherrypaw trembled next to Mudpaw and got onto the leader's stump, barely able to contain her surprise and excitement. Her bulky form towered over her leader's lanky one.

"I, Ravenstar, leader of Fernclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn. Cherrypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" Ravenstar was giving Cherrypaw an intense look.

Mudpaw could feel her nerves, she had never seen a warrior ceremony before and didn't know what to do. ' _I don't know either actually…'_

Cherrypaw shifted on her paws, "I do promise!"

Ravenstar nodded encouragingly, "Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Cherrypaw, from this moment on you will be known as Cherrystorm. StarClan honors your courage, ferocity, loyalty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Fernclan."

"Cherrystorm! Cherrystorm! Cherrystorm!" the clan chorused, crowding around her as she stepped off the stump. Cloudsong nuzzled her former apprentice. Cherrystorm held her head and tail high, enjoying all the congratulations her clan mates were giving. Mudpaw noticed his mentor Rabbitpelt slinking away as soon as Ravenstar had finished talking, but he didn't care that much.

Slowly the clan dispersed, and Mudpaw reached Cherrystorm. "I didn't know you were going to be made a warrior. That's amazing."

Cherrystorm grinned, "Me neither! I'm really pumped though. Now I can go hunting whenever I want. Maybe I'll even get to lead a patrol or something? Who knows? Ravenstar said I don't have to hold the silent vigil tonight since my shoulder still needs to heal. I need the rest."

Mudpaw felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. He was overwhelmed with love and excitement for Cherrystorm. ' _I still need to tell her how I feel! Oh Starclan help me!'_ He took a deep breath, "Cherrystorm, can I meet you at moonhigh tonight. Alone?"

Cherrystorm tilted her head, "Sure Mudpaw, I'm not in trouble right?" She playfully cuffed his ear.

"No, no, I just want to talk for a while." Mudpaw thought he was going to pass out his heart was throbbing so hard.

Almost out of nowhere, Rabbitpelt padded over to them. "Mudpaw, quit fawning over the bobcat we have a hunting patrol to do."

Cherrystorm bristled her fur, making her look absolutely enormous. She growled at Rabbitpelt, "Call me bobcat again."

Rabbitpelt immediately cowered at her display, his tail dropping between his legs, "Okay, okay. No need to get hasty...Sorry, Cherrystorm."

Cherrystorm slowly relaxed, her fur settling, "You better go do your patrol Mudpaw, can't keep your mentor waiting." She cuffed his ear playfully again, this time her big paw made him stagger.

Mudpaw sighed and stood up, following his mentor out of camp.

Mudpaw didn't hunt as well as he normally did. He could feel himself getting distracted. He had caught two thin scrub jays. Leaf-bare was starting. ' _Prey is harder to find anyway. It's okay.'_ He told himself. The sun had set, taking the warmth away with it. The moon was rising in the sky when Rabbitpelt finally gave in and said they could head back to camp. Rabbitpelt hadn't caught anything. Mudpaw set his catch on the small fresh kill pile, but didn't take anything. He felt too nervous to be hungry. He started walking to the warriors' den, but realized that he wasn't exactly allowed to go in. He peered inside and couldn't see Cherrystorm anyway. ' _Oh right, maybe the medicine cat den!'_ He headed that way and caught Cherrystorm leaving the medicine cat den.

"Oh hey Mudpaw, Brightshade says I should be able to start hunting by tomorrow morning, as long as I'm not stiff." She waved her tail happily.

Mudpaw could feel his heart beat faster in her presence. "H-have you eaten? I just brought back some prey."

She shook her head no and walked to the fresh kill pile, picking up a scrub jay he had caught from the top. She mumbled around it in her mouth, "Now we can talk."

Mudpaw led her to a quiet patch of moss in camp. The brambles here were almost thick enough to be another den if the clan ever needed one. Satisfied that nobody was listening, he took a deep breath. "Cherrystorm, I…" He took another deep breath and shook his head. "I really like you. I want to be your mate." His pelt burned intensely despite the cold weather, and he felt like he was going to explode.

Cherrystorm looked at him with wide eyes, " I...Yes! Yes, I want to be your mate!"

Mudpaw was elated. He almost forgot, "Shhhh…! Apprentices aren't supposed to have mates. We have to keep it a secret until I'm a warrior okay?"

Cherrystorm nodded and tried to speak in a more hushed tone, "Oh, sorry I didn't know!" She started eating the scrub jay while listening to him.

"Alright, so we are going to be mates, but it has to be a secret. Maybe we'll try to hang out less? So it's less obvious?" Mudpaw wracked his brain for more words. "That shouldn't be too hard since we have to stay in different dens now. And I still have training. We could still share prey like now, does that work for you?"

Cherrystorm nodded, then got up and laid down next to him. "For warmth right?" She laughed and purred hard, making Mudpaw's pelt tingle. They groomed each other for a while before heading to their separate dens for sleep.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Crisp frost coated the moss outside of the warrior's den. Cherrystorm's thick fur kept her warm while she was curled up inside the den. Her former mentor Cloudsong slept next to her, the sight of the molly's fluffy white coat gave Cherrystorm comfort. The pale orange light of dawn was creeping over the cold grey mountains. Cherrystorm stood and stretched, then quietly left the den. Blossomthroat was organizing a patrol in the clearing and made eye contact with her.

"Ah, perfect timing Cherrystorm, first patrol as a warrior, let's go." Blossomthroat pointed with her tail at the rest of the patrol. Thrushleap was watching her apprentice Thornpaw scuffle with his sister Fawnpaw, who was Blossomthroat's apprentice. "Hey, break it up you two, we have clan duties to fulfill, don't you want to be warriors someday?" Blossomthroat's meow held a tone of amusement under the stronger sound of discipline.

Thornpaw stopped pinning Fawnpaw and ran up to Cherrystorm, puffing out his chest, "I'm gonna be the best warrior of FernClan! I'll get even tougher than you, even if I have to train all the way until next leaf-bare!"

Cherrystorm fluffed her fur out, but Thornpaw didn't back down. She laughed, "You've got more bravery in one forepaw than most cats have in their whole body!" She lifted her forepaw and unsheathed her claws in a mock menacing display and Thornpaw swatted at her paw with his own. ' _His paws are so much smaller than mine!'_

"Come on patrol, let's go." Blossomthroat meowed with authority. The group of cats filed out of camp in silence to travel the borders.

Cherrystorm scent-marked some of the boulders at North Fork. She had been training here with her mentor less than a moon ago, but she felt like she had gotten much older somehow in the time that had passed. Her thoughts turned dark as she scented a rogue scent along the border. It was faint on the rocks in the slowly moving water of the shallows.

"Blossomthroat, come smell this. I scent rogue!" Cherrystorm meowed.

The deputy lifted her head from the scent she was following and bounded over wordlessly. She opened her mouth to drink the scent in over the glands in the roof of her mouth, "Yeah, that's definitely not Mossclan. Hmmm. We should report back to Ravenstar as soon as possible. Fawnpaw, you come with me. Thrushleap, you, Cherrystorm, and Thornpaw finish up the patrol. If you find anything else report it to Ravenstar when you get back. I hope you don't find anything else, StarClan knows we don't need more problems right now in leaf-bare." The black molly and her cinnamon striped apprentice bounded off in the direction of camp.

Cherrystorm felt the uneasiness of her companions the rest of the patrol. The tension bubbled in the air like an intense heat wave, despite the crunch of frost under their feet.

Thornpaw spoke up, "Cherystorm, I thought you killed all the rogues? How can there be more?"

Cherrystorm cleared her throat nervously, "I only killed their leader. The rest of the rogues were hurt, but ran off. I don't know what happened to them. We still had to get to the Twoleg houses."

"Ohhhh..!" Thornpaw mewed. "Well that just leaves more for me to battle!" He puffed up his fur.

The patrol continued with no further signs of rogues and returned to camp.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather in the clearing!" Ravenstar yowled from the leader's stump.

Cherrystorm sat next to Mudpaw, who looked like he had just woke up. She was tempted to give his fur a lick, part of his cheek was pushed in a funny angle from sleep. She figured she shouldn't show affection right now in front of the whole clan, and turned her attention to her leader.

"This morning the dawn patrol scented rogues at North Fork. While we don't know if is the same group that attacked camp before, we should still be cautious. No apprentices are to be assessed until we find the rogues, we can't risk them being alone with dangerous cats on the loose." Ravenstar scanned the clearing, trying to gauge his clan's emotions. "We will increase patrols, and if any patrols find more scents please report back to me or Blossomthroat immediately. Until we find them that's all we can do…"

Blossomthroat stepped onto the leader's stump and nodded with him, "Anyone who wants to go on the next patrol, stay here."

Ravenstar dismissed the clan with a wave of his tail and headed back to his den.

Cherrystorm stayed where she was and so did Mudpaw.

His mentor Rabbitpelt sauntered up to Blossomthroat, "I want to go on the patrol. I would love to have another chance to sink my teeth into rogue flesh. I'll take my wimpy apprentice, even though he's more mouse than cat when it comes to battles."

Blossomthroat ignored the warrior's tone, "Sure. Dappleface and Tigerpaw can join you. As soon as you have gathered, you can go patrol the southern border from the Twoleg bridge to the Star Tree." The deputy walked off towards the leader's den.

Cherrystorm could hear Mudpaw huff a little, he mewed to her quietly, "I'll see you tonight, okay?"

Cherrystorm nodded and Mudpaw padded to his mentor to join the patrol.

The wait for nightfall felt slow. The air was getting colder every day. Cherrystorm watched as Fawnpaw and Thornpaw took their prey from hunting straight to the elders. The fresh kill pile was no pile. The hunger clawing at her belly made the wait slower. _'Elders and kits have to eat first. Clan rules.'_ She stood and stretched her stiff muscles, looking around the warrior's den. _'I have to take someone, can't hunt alone with rogues around.'_

"Hey, Snowwhisker you want to go hunting with me?" She meowed to the sleek white tom in his nest.

The older tom meowed back as he got up, "Sure. How is your hunting anyway? I hope it's good or we might not catch anything at all."

They left the warrior's den, on their way out Blossomthroat stopped them.

"You headed out hunting? Good. Nightpaw needs to try and collect some herbs near Fang Cliff and needs an escort." The deputy gestured to the tortoiseshell molly.

"Gingerstripe needs more thyme, it grows in the shade under the cliff." Nightpaw meowed quietly.

"Alright, that's fine. Let's go." Snowwhisker trotted out of camp and Cherrystorm followed.

Occasionally, Cherrystorm would look back to make sure Nightpaw was keeping up. She didn't get the same amount of exercise and training as a warrior apprentice would, but she was surprisingly swift. _'Tigerpaw is fast too. I wonder if they get that from Thrushleap. I don't know which warrior is their dad, but maybe he's fast?'_

Once the hunting patrol reached the base of the rocky formation, they split up. Cherrystorm headed towards the river, looking for prey scent. It was hard to smell anything because the air was cold enough to burn in her nose. She opened her mouth to use the glands, scenting a bird not very far away. She scanned the area, trying to see if she could see it before moving. It was sitting in a short tree. _'Leaf bare makes it so much easier to spot birds.'_ she chuckled internally. She made her way towards the tree as slow as she could, taking care not to make a sound on the leaf litter. She hoped it helped camouflage her just enough. She was only a few tail lengths away from the tree. She silently bunched up and sprung, paws outstretched. Her paws made contact with the angry mass of feathers, which squaked loudly enough for everything nearby to hear. _'As if there's more prey… All the stuff on the ground is hiding in their holes…'_ As she landed and killed the bird she looked around. The forest seemed eerily quiet after all the noise the bird made. It felt like she was being watched. She fluffed out her fur more and glared across the river. _'This is the thinnest part of the river. Where Mossclan crosses for gatherings.'_ While thinking, she spotted several silver and grey pelts slinking out of the treeline on the other side of the river. _'Oh, just a Mossclan patrol.'_ She could hear their meows across the water.

"...yeah I thought that was the rogue too! That's just the one they adopted." meowed one.

"I wonder if Fernclan has had rogues on their territory too?" meowed another.

Cherrystorm thought about calling to them and telling them, but she figured Ravenstar would want to be the one to announce it at a gathering. She picked up her blue jay and walked back towards Fang Cliff. She found Nightpaw first, who was holding a big bundle of thyme in her mouth. She nodded in acknowledgement and they walked around the rocks together until they found Snowwhisker. He was gathering his catch up.

"I found a shallow nest of mice, I got them all." he meowed grimly.

"Aren't we not supposed to kill the kits of prey? So that there keeps being prey?" Nightpaw set down her bundle and inspected his mice.

"If we don't catch prey now, there won't keep being a clan though." He grumbled and picked up the mice by the tails.

They walked back to camp with a somber mood.

Blossomthroat greeted them at the entrance, "Oh I'm glad you caught prey! The elders have eaten, so you can eat some of what you caught."

Snowwhisker set down his mice and took one to the warrior's den to eat. Cherrystorm followed Nightpaw to the medicine cat den and gave them the blue jay she caught to share. Brightshade seemed to ignore that he had gotten prey at all, he was busy organizing the thyme.

Cherrystorm left and headed to the quiet spot Mudpaw had shown her before. She settled down to give herself a good wash and waited for the moon to rise.


	17. Chapter 16

After a long boring patrol, Mudpaw was finally back in camp. It was nearly moonhigh and they had patrolled half the territory without a single sign of rogues. Mudpaw hoped that the rogue that had been scented on the dawn patrol was just passing through and didn't want to attack the clans. He was tired of being on guard all the time. _'Why can't we just feel safe in our territory? This is exhausting.'_ He had spent most of the patrol thinking about Cherrystorm. He couldn't help himself. He barely registered that Rabbitpelt had dismissed him because he was going to sleep after the patrol. He headed to the empty den space and found Cherrystorm waiting for him.

"Hi!" she whispered, waving her tail in a friendly gesture.

He walked up to her and nosed her muzzle, his pelt burning in a blush. _'Oh StarClan! Her jaws are so big I bet she could fit my head in her mouth!'_

Her tongue rasped his cheek a couple times and she purred, "How are you? I'm starving!"

 _'Oh stars, she is going to eat me!'_ He thought, blushing harder. "I-I'm okay… Maybe we should go h-hunting. The clan needs more prey anyway!"

"That's actually a really good idea. I haven't eaten in two sunhighs. The elders and medicine cats got prey, so whatever we catch we can eat!" Cherrystorm rose to her paws.

Mudpaw couldn't take his eyes off Cherrystorm, even though she was thin from leaf bare, she still looked so strong. "I think we can get away leaving camp normally. If we both say that we haven't eaten and need to hunt, I think it will distract from us being alone together."

Cherrystorm nodded, they left the den and got past Blossomthroat without her so much as twitching a whisker.

The crisp, cool night air was extremely refreshing, as was the cool brush under his paws. Mudpaw was burning up. They were quiet leaving camp, but now as they headed to the northern part of the territory, Mudpaw felt safe enough to talk. Cherrystorm seemed to notice and slowed her pace from being in the lead to side by side.

"Are you excited?" he looked up at her.

"Yeah, I hope we actually find prey, I'm starving!" she looked up at the sliver of the moon hanging in the sky. She looked back down at him and read his expression, "Oh, I'm excited to be with you too, don't worry!" She ran her tail along his back, making Mudpaw shiver.

The boulders around North Fork sometimes had the dens of prey in them, with the cold it was probably where all the prey was. Mudpaw and Cherrystorm searched the rocks diligently. Mudpaw spotted a muskrat push up at the edge of the water. ' _That's like a nursery right? I don't want to kill prey kits.'_ He kept searching for more prey scent, looking up at his mate every so often with a smile. He saw a mouse drinking at the water's edge a few tail lengths away. Slowly, he crept up and over the rocks as they got smaller and smaller until he got to the pounced, and killed it with a swift bite. He picked it up in his jaws and waved his tail, calling Cherrystorm over.

She saw him and bounded across the rocks, "Good job Mudpaw! Can we share that?"

He set it in front of her and nodded. She took a big bite, the bones audibly crunching as she did. He tried to mimic her, but when he drew back, his bite was only half the size of hers. He smiled at her nervously and she smiled back, "It isn't a competition silly, we're sharing. I'm only gonna eat half of it, it'll just take me less bites." She ate the rest of her half in one bite and licked her lips, grooming herself while Mudpaw finished.

Mudpaw sat up and realized his fur was bristled up against the cold and that his ears were starting to ache. Cherrystorm seemed to be doing fine, her longer thicker coat probably kept her plenty warm. ' _In greenleaf I'll be the one with the advantage.'_ He scooted against her, she was radiating heat.

She must have noticed he was cold and looked down at him huddling against her. "How about a race? Or even just a nice run? That'll warm you up." He nodded in agreement.

She stood up and he followed her in a quick trot, it seemed like they were going along the border south towards the Twoleg bridge. His paws pounded the hard cold earth and his blood pumping seemed to warm his body. They stopped to _rest_ a few times. Cold air was harder to breathe and run in.

They stopped when they reached the Twoleg bridge in a tired, but warmed up heap. "We should try to hunt for the clan here, what do you think?" Mudpaw meowed.

Cherrystorm nodded and got to her paws, "You try towards that side of the bridge, I'll look on the other." She crept away in a hunter's crouch.

Mudpaw stalked through the leafless undergrowth, straining his senses for signs of prey. Instead, he caught the scent of other cats. They were still FernClan, not rogues. He followed the scent trail, which led up to one of the metal Twoleg bushes. The sharp hard branches were densely woven like the walls of the camp, clan cats usually avoided anything Twoleg related places. Along the bottom edge, there was a gap with the earth dug out underneath. The fur stuck to the sharp branches was strong enough in scent to identify. _'Brightshade...And Thrushleap? What are they doing here?'_ Mudpaw looked around, no one seemed to be nearby, Cherrystorm must be tracking something further away. He pulled himself through the wall of Twoleg bush and kept following the scent trail. It led under the bridge. A narrow path had been worn in the vegetation that lined the steep cliff down to the water. He crept along the winding path, freezing in an instant, he could hear voices. He willed himself not to move despite the urge to get away from the cliff.

"... Really, you think so?" Thrushleap mewed.

"I could tell last time, why do you have your doubts now. It's my duty as a medicine cat to know these things." Brightshade mewed back confidently.

 _'That's the warmest I've ever heard Brightshade be to another cat. I wonder what they could be talking about.'_ Mudpaw thought. The wind blew through the river's canyon, making Mudpaw lose his footing a little.

"What was that?" Thrushleap whispered, barely audible.

Brightshade must have been scanning where Mudpaw was standing, but didn't seem to see him. _'I must be camouflaged against the dirt trail! All those times Thornpaw and Fawnpaw teased me and called me Mudpelt have been made up for, I've got the best camouflage right now! Thank StarClan!'_ Mudpaw thought, his heart racing with nerves.

"Must have been a bird or something." Brightshade meowed, "I don't think we should stay here. Let's go."

Mudpaw's muscles were telling him to flee, they would be coming up the same path, and would be able to pick up his scent by then. He crept up the path as fast and as flat as he could. He didn't make a sound getting past the Twoleg bush, then trotted away in the direction Cherrystorm had went. He didn't dare look back in case they caught him spying on them. _'I think they might be mates!'_ He found Cherrystorm, who had just caught a bird. She waved her tail at him in greeting, but then must have noticed his panicked expression.


	18. Chapter 17

"What's up Mudpaw, you look like you've seen a cougar!" Cherrystorm dropped her bird to speak.

"I-I saw Brightshade and Thrushleap together, under the bridge." Mudpaw was panting from running and panic.

"Really? I wonder what they were doing." Cherrystorm tilted her head in thought. "Wait, could they be mates?"

"They were acting really secretive. They had to get past the Twoleg bush to get where they were, so whatever it is they don't want anyone to know." Mudpaw frowned, "I had to go past the Twoleg bush too, it was creepy."

"Why would they keep their relationship a secret?" Cherrystorm leaned against Mudpaw. Her warmth soothed his nerves a little.

"Medicine cats aren't supposed to have mates. They have an extra code they're supposed to follow. Having kits distracts them from their duties to the clan." _'This must be what that medicine cat, Stoneleap, was trying to tell me in my dream! The code is being bent, male cats don't carry kits, but he might still be having them!'_ Mudpaw mused to himself.

Cherrystorm huffed a bit, "Clans seem to have a lot of rules for relationships. I don't get it." She laid her fluffy tail across his back and he appreciated the added warmth.

Mudpaw nodded, "Forbidden relationships caused the clans trouble in the past. That's why they're part of the code now. I don't know exactly what happened, but I guess we should keep their secret, since we're having our own secret relationship. What do you think?"

Cherrystorm lifted her head suddenly and whispered, "I think we need to get out of here before we get caught!" She picked up the bird she had caught and started to run through the territory in the opposite direction of the noises she had heard. Mudpaw followed her.

Mudpaw was panting heavily by the time Cherrystorm decided to stop. They were on the south side of Fang Cliff. _There might be prey here…_ Mudpaw started looking for prey scent along the ground when he caught his breath. "If we could get something besides the bird I bet Ravenstar would be really pleased."

Cherrystorm set down the bird and started eating it, "Have some Mudpaw. It's getting cold."

Mudpaw stopped in his tracks and came to take a few bites. Despite his hunger clawing at his belly, he found it tough to swallow. His thoughts swarmed like bees in his head. ' _So what do we do about Brightshade? He's breaking the code, but so am I.'_ He stood back up and padded away wordlessly to hunt while Cherrystorm finished eating. ' _I'm going to be a warrior soon. Then our relationship won't be against the code. Brightshade has been breaking the code the whole time and the only way he wouldn't be anymore is if he stopped being a medicine cat.'_

Mudpaw scented a vole and tracked it to a hole, spotting the creature close by. He crept up silently, taking a deep breath and springing forward. The vole pinned under his front paws was surprisingly fat for leaf-bare. He killed it with a swift bite to the neck and picked it up. The scent in his nose was intoxicating.

Mudpaw had gotten so caught up in hunting he almost forgot what he was so worried about. ' _Does Brightshade want to be a medicine cat still? Is that why he keeps his relationship with Thrushleap a secret.? Does Thrushleap get in trouble for this too?'_ His paws brought him back to Cherrystorm without thinking.

Cherrystorm had caught another bird, she smiled at him tiredly through the feathers. She flicked her tail in the direction of camp and he nodded. They both trotted back to camp. When they got back to camp Blossomthroat greeted them cheerfully when she noticed they both had prey. Mudpaw followed Cherrystorm to the fresh kill pile and put down his vole. Someone else had managed to catch another bird. He smiled, happy that even when times seemed dark, at least his Clan wasn't going hungry tonight.

Cherrystorm subtly brushed up against him in affection. He appreciated the last moment of extra warmth before he had to go sleep in his own nest in the apprentices' den instead of hers.

Mudpaw's feet felt like they were made of cold hard stones. He dragged himself to the apprentices' den and quietly as he could manage. He curled up in his nest near his brother and sister, his heart heavy with emotion. Even though he had been out hunting all night and his muscles ached, he couldn't sleep. It wasn't just that he couldn't be with Cherrystorm, he felt weighed down by his thoughts on seeing Brightshade and Thrushleap. ' _Maybe they aren't mates. Maybe I'm overthinking this. Cherrystorm doesn't seem nearly as bothered about this as me. I suppose that's because she wasn't born with the code. What am I saying? I'm not even a warrior. Maybe I am just overthinking it. Maybe this is fine.'_

Mudpaw awoke to his mentor's grumbles as he approached the apprentices' den. "Come on Mudpaw, we have to go on the dawn patrol." Mudpaw got up and stretched as fast as he could, which felt terrible. He made a mental note to not do that ever again and chuckled to himself.

Rabbitpelt was sitting outside the den with the same grumpy tired look he always had. He started to walk towards the dawn patrol once he saw Mudpaw, expecting him to follow. Mudpaw walked in his footsteps across the snow covered camp clearing. His father Dusttail and his apprentice Bearpaw were waiting. They left the camp together quiet, except for Bearpaw, who was purring with excitement. They headed west along the river, starting at the Twoleg bridge where he and Cherrystorm has started hunting the night before. The fresh snow seemed to cover any trace that they were there, but maybe a more experienced warrior could tell. He watched his mentor and his father's face for any changes, but neither one said a word. ' _They must be tired. Or really hungry. I bet last night's prey went to the elders and the medicine cats. At least now we could hunt for ourselves.'_

Mudpaw spoke up, "Hey, Rabbitpelt, do you think we could hunt?"

A drip of icy water fell onto Rabbitpelt's head from a tree and he shook his head, his ears flopping with his shake. "Not yet Mudpaw. Ravenstar wants us to check North Fork again since rogues were scented there at dawn yesterday. He thinks that they might be here again. If they are, I'm going to tear them to pieces. Can't let Cherrystorm have all the fun, right?"

Mudpaw nodded nervously, he had forgotten that there were rogues in the territory. He was glad that he had Cherrystorm with him last night when they went out. The patrol continued north along the river, reaching the large boulders of North Fork. Dusttail signaled for the patrol to fan out and search for rogue scent. Mudpaw crawled over the large rocks tensely. He didn't want to find any rogue scent, or rogues for that matter. He reached the water's edge without finding anything and headed back to the rest of the patrol. Dusttail and Bearpaw stood when they spotted him.

"Did you find anything?!" Bearpaw shouted. Dusttail pushed him a little and hissed, "Shut up! If there are rogues out, do we really need to be calling attention to ourselves?"

Mudpaw made it to them with one final leap off the rocks, "No I didn't scent anything. Where's Rabbitpelt?"

Dusttail tilted his head in thought, "I don't know. I thought you would be the last one back since you're the smallest. Thought you would be the slowest."

Bearpaw laughed and Mudpaw shrunk in embarrassment. ' _Dad thinks I'm slow?'_

Dusttail glared at his apprentice and cuffed his ear, "I didn't mean any offense Mudpaw. Sorry buddy." Dusttail leaned over to Mudpaw and licked his ear in apology. "We should look for Rabbitpelt. Let's stick together. Even though we didn't scent any, be on the lookout for rogues."


End file.
